An added conviction

The procession of presidential limousines has left the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, where the European Council (15-16 October) has just ended. The current President of the EU, Nicolas Sarkozy, was visibly satisfied by the results achieved, but did not fail to emphasize that there is still “a lot to do”. The summit of the 27 evaluated the measures to tackle the global financial crisis, approved the common strategy on immigration and asylum, and postponed to the next Council meeting (11-12 December) both the passing of the climate and energy package and a decision on the thorny question of the Treaty of Lisbon.Rebuilding the financial system on new foundations. Before leaving the EU headquarters in Brussels to return to the French capital, French President Sarkozy wished to place the emphasis on the ambitious “need to rebuild the world financial system on new foundations”. This was a question on which the President of the Commission, the Portuguese José Manuel Barroso, also expressed “full agreement”. Together they are due to fly out to Washington on Saturday 18 October to discuss with US President George Bush the proposal for an international summit (already baptized G14 or Bretton Woods 2), “to be held in November”, “on problems linked to the financial crisis and its repercussions on the real economy”. Don’t you think – he was asked by a journalist – that the outgoing American President has limited powers, in view of the imminent elections? “If we were to wait for the swearing in of the new US President”, not due till next year, “we would have to wait till the spring” and then “it would be too late”. But why hold this G14 summit just now? “Because – explained Sarkozy – we’ve now encountered a willingness to collaborate that we had not found till yesterday, neither in America nor “in the emerging countries”. Unity of intentions among the Twenty-Seven. What makes Sarkozy speak of the “success of the summit” is especially the climate of “collaboration” and the “common will to act in a concerted way” to “stabilize the financial system and protect savers, businesses and investors. Other leaders who intervened at the summit also expressed the same convictions, albeit with different emphases. The summit in fact accepted the decisions of the Eurogroup (national interventions with EU endorsement) and recognized the need for an “anti-crisis unit” with the aim of “reinforcing the supervision of the European financial sector”. The job of this consultative body would be to intervene if the need should arise for “a common reaction” to market instability. As regards the package on climate, energy and the environment, the heads of state and of government reaffirmed the decisions they took in March 2007 and in March this year: namely, to reduce, by 2020, greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, increase the share of renewable energies (+20%) and boost energy efficiency (+20%). But, given the opposition of some governments, concerned by the added costs these targets would place on national businesses, and what is more in a phase of recession, the Presidency decided to insert a passage in the summit’s Conclusions that would meet such perplexities . So the EU intends to honour the commitments it has already signed up to in terms of climate (according to the formula 20-20-20), but this strategy will have to “rigorously take into account the cost-benefit relation for all the sectors of the EU economy and for all its member states”.Treaty of Lisbon deferred. The European Council then adopted the European Pact on immigration and asylum. It now represents the basis for a common policy for the EU and for its member states”, “guided by a spirit of solidarity between member countries and of cooperation with third countries”. This “common policy must be founded on the good management of migratory flows, in the interest not only of the host countries but also of the countries of origin and the migrant himself”. The summit of the 27 then tackled the continuing problem of when or if the Treaty of Lisbon would come into force, placed in question by the rejection of ratification by Irish voters in the referendum held in June this year. The Conclusions to the Council merely says that the leaders of the Union heard a report by the Irish premier, Brian Cowen, and deferred any decision on the matter till the Council in December. “I know that the paragraph regarding Lisbon is written in political jargon”, admitted Sarkozy. “But there are times when a dose of ambiguity helps to overcome insurmountable obstacles and prepare the ground for acceptable solutions”. Other issues discussed in Brussels included the adoption of the team that will sit on the “Group of reflection on the future of the EU”, chaired by former Spanish premier Felipe Gonzales; the situation in Georgia; and preparations for the EU-Russia summit due to be held in Nice on 14 November. “From this meeting we emerge with an added conviction – commented Barroso -: namely, that the Union has a need for the Treaty and for a long-term President of the Council, which is one of the main achievements of the agreement reached at Lisbon”.