Which importance in the world?

The European Council was supposed to focus primarily on foreign affairs and economic governance of EU27. Instead, citizens, were mainly informed of the problems related to the Roma situation in France, and the corresponding measures taken by French authorities, which a few weeks ago decided to repatriate “nomadic populations” to their countries of departure, mostly to Romania and Bulgaria. The fierce clash between the French Government and the EU Commission dominated front-page news on the press, on the web and on TV stations across the continent. As stated in the Conclusions, the Council of the heads of Government and State of September 16 provided the occasion to discuss (without taking true decisions) “how to give new momentum to the Union’s external relations, taking full advantage of the opportunities provided by the Lisbon Treaty”. It also took stock “of progress achieved in the Task Force on economic governance”, and postponed to the end of October for thorough discussion on the issue.Global player? Europe “is facing many challenges in a rapidly changing world, which all require a concerted international response”. The recent economic and financial crisis, state EU27 leaders, “has dramatically shown the extent to which the well-being, security and quality of life of Europeans depend on external developments”. For this reason, the EU “must be an effective global actor”, ready to share in the responsibility for global security, multilateralism, (especially the role of the UN), cooperation and help to Third Countries. Thus there is the need, as provided for in the Lisbon Treaty, for concerted action “to strengthen the Union’s ability to project its influence in the world”. The Council agreed on the need for Europe to promote its shared “interests and values”, which have not yet been brought to the fore. It a question which the EU has always handled with excessive caution, thwarted by national particularisms, to the extent of being overcome by events. Partnerships and “global challenges”. The European Council considers it urgent to step up “strategic partnerships” with “key players in the world”, at economic and political level. The EU addresses its glance across the Atlantic, to the U.S., but grants equal importance to the relations with Russia and emerging economies in Asia (primarily China and India) and with the other continents (Brasil, Mexico, South Africa…). The diplomatic service that is being organized by the Union, and which is currently taking shape, will need to sustain the common interests in various corners of the planet. The summit in Brussels thus addressed – rather vaguely – the Union’s participation in upcoming international meetings represented by Council President Herman Van Rompuy, High Commissioner Catherine Ashton, and the head of the Commission José Manuel Barroso. Climate, security and migrations. The first event was the 20-22 September UN High Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals; October will see summits with China and the Republic of Korea and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), followed later in the year by a summit with India. According to the Council they are a good opportunity to “adopt concrete steps such as cooperation on climate change, including on the promotion of effective and verifiable reductions in emissions, as well as on renewables and energy efficiency; pressing security issues, such as proliferation, terrorism, cybersecurity and piracy”, cooperation on global issues such as “migration, energy and access to raw materials”, working together on development policies and human rights. G20, Africa, Middle East. According to EU leaders, the G20 Summit in Seoul will allow “a review of the global economic recovery and the commitments made by G20 members. It will allow the Union “to stress the importance of maintaining strong momentum in the area of financial reform”. The November 2010 summit with President Obama will take stock of the situation of the economy and of preparations for the Cancun conference on climate change (29 November – 10 December): an agreement on concerted Europe-America objectives would be the first step to prevent a failure similar to the one that took place in Copenhagen. The EU27 summit tackled the next meeting with Africa (the EU/South Africa Summit on 28 September 2010 and the EU/Africa Summit on 29/30 November) and adopted two blueprints concerning the situation in Pakistan and the Middle East (available in all Community languages on the website www.consilium.europa.eu).