“After” Berlin

The recent celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Union and the Berlin Declaration; common external policy on the world scene and the situation in Kosovo; the reform of the EU budget; biological products; the future of football; and the security of the seas: the agenda of the parliamentary session held in Brussels on 28 and 29 March was wide and varied, even though it’s the arrests for suspected fraud to the detriment of the coffers of the EU that is most being talked about in the EU institutions this week. The investigations of OLAF, the Commission’s anti-fraud agency, are continuing in Belgium, Finland, Italy, France and Luxembourg. “THE WORLD WILL NOT WAIT FOR US”. At Berlin “I said that the world would not wait for Europe. We must act together, in an incisive way, to reach an agreement” on the internal reforms and to promote “action on a global scale to defend our values”, declared ANGELA MERKEL , German Chancellor and current President of the European Council, in her address to the European Parliament setting out the results of the summit held in Berlin during the previous weekend. “With the Berlin Declaration – said Mrs Merkel – we celebrated a half-century of successes” of the European Community, but now the EU faces new scenarios. “That’s why we need to achieve a renewed foundation of the Union by 2009”: the current German Presidency will therefore propose to the summit in June a precise road map to re-launch the Constitution. Merkel then touched on the three “important summits that await us”: that of 30 April with the USA, “in which we will discuss the transatlantic economic partnership”, energy and climate change; that of the G8 in June; and the meeting with Russian President Putin, on the energy question. Merkel underlined the “grim humanitarian situation in Darfur”, explaining that she would act in the UN Security Council “to find a solution to the grave crisis” in the region. COMMISSION, DUAL STRATEGY. The head of the Executive JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO also addressed the EO. According to Barroso, “the Declaration approved in Berlin commits Europe anew to pursue its values” and to show “constructive pragmatism” that may produce “results that are useful for citizens”. He commended the “twin track strategy”, proposed by the Commission “to find a solution to the institutional crisis: namely, guaranteeing on the one hand the achievement of concrete results and at the same time making progress with the reforms”. In Barroso’s view “the results obtained in the area of energy and climate” during the EU Council in early March “contributed favourably to the success of the Berlin Declaration, whose text shows it is possible to find an institutional solution before the next European elections”. The head of the Executive said he was convinced that “these reforms are necessary to tackle cross-border problems such as immigration, climate change and global competition”. FOOTBALL: TOO MUCH MONEY AND VIOLENCE IN THE STADIA. European sport, and football in particular, “represents an inalienable part of the European identity and European citizenship”, said IVO BELET , Belgian MEP, who is the author of one of the two reports discussed in the EP in its current session. The report assigns “social” relevance to football, but recognises at the same time “the need for a common effort, by the organs of government of football and the political authorities, aimed at curbing some negative developments”, including “the excessive commercialisation and the unfair competition that derives from it”. According to the Belet Report, submitted to the scrutiny of MEPs, the future of professional football “is threatened by the growing concentration of economic wealth and sporting power”. The report therefore appeals to the member states, the football authorities and the Commission – which is preparing a White Paper on the sport – to “tackle the need for corrective measures, bearing in mind the recommendations contained in the independent Evaluation on European Sport 2006”. A second Report was devoted to efforts to curb violence in the stadia. TURKEY AND ECONOMY. A further two developments were the focus of attention in Brussels in recent days. The first concerns the resumption of the negotiations between the EU and Turkey, after the stop decreed by the 27 last December. The negotiations (concerning 35 chapters in all) are now concentrated on industrial and business policy. In May they could be extended to other dossiers, including monetary policy. Another focus of attention was the quarterly report on the Eurozone, published by the Commission on Thursday 29 March. According to the Commission, “the best growth of the economy since 2000” was registered in 2006. It was also a positive year on the employment front, with Germany acting as the motor of industrial recovery. The trend could slow down in 2007, though “favourable prospects” for EU markets remain.