A bond in freedom

The fronts on which Europe is battling during this phase are many and various. The official meeting at the White House between US President Barack Obama and the top officeholders of the EU served to review the situation. The priorities that emerge from it are linked – obviously – to the economy, as also to foreign policy, the internal balance of the Union and some delicate institutional questions.Interdependent economies. “If Europe fails to overcome this crisis, there’s the risk of a new wave of recession throughout the world”, said Obama to Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, respectively Presidents of the Council and Commission, who flew from Brussels to Washington for the EU-USA bilateral summit on 28 November. But while the two EU leaders had brought with them a series of dossiers regarding the control of state budgets and the rigour of public accounts (and the dream of a worldwide Tobin tax on financial transactions), the American President spoke especially of the need to revive growth. “Without growth and without jobs the crisis won’t go away” – stressed Obama. Preferring to steer clear of any serious reflection on the fact that the great crisis of 2008 originated in the USA, Obama felt it was his duty to recommend recipes for getting out of the “quagmire” and dispensed good advice to permit the revival of the European partner, important both as guardian of the Euro, a currency present on international markets, and as customer and at the same time privileged supplier of the USA on the commercial level. In other words, in a globalized context, if Europe sinks, it will drag America down with it, exactly as the opposite happened three years ago.A front that still remains open. Once they have returned to Brussels, Van Rompuy and Barroso will have to discuss all these issues with their “colleagues” of the 27 member states: a public debate with the European Parliament had been scheduled for the plenary session on 30 November-1 December, followed by the planned summit of heads of state and of government on 9 December. So the agenda is packed to ensure that no stone is left unturned, no possible solution ignored: European bailout facility, support (through the ECB and IMF) to the most heavily indebted nations, eurobonds, economic governance, six-pack, stability and growth. Nor should the problems of the real economy be ignored: in particular provisions still at their planning phase and measures already being implemented to support SMEs, R&D, innovation, infrastructures, common energy policy, reformed CAP, support for backward regions, and so on.Foreign policy. Globalization, however, imposes the need for the European Union to reinforce its political stature on the world scene. While the European External Action Service is slowly being organized, though not without problems, in the bid to create a “diplomatic face” for the EU in the various capitals of the world, the attention of the 27 remains focused on the Mediterranean world. The elections in Egypt do not seem to be the decisive democratic transformation that the country needs; Libya is very far from having been stabilized; Syria is a volcano threatening eruption at any moment, as too is the Holy Land and a large part of the Middle East. The same could be said of Eastern Europe and Turkey. It’s hardly an air of democratic pacification and economic development that can be breathed at the gates of Europe, and these menaces open up many levels of risk for the EU (at the political, economic and social levels, at the levels of immigration, security and terrorism). Russia itself is not the partner Europe hoped for after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet regime. And, in addition, there are the global environmental questions that are threatening Europe: the conference that has opened at Durban (South Africa) on climate change shows that convincing agreements on post-Kyoto are far from having been reached.Internal affairs. Finally, there are the “internal fronts” for the European Union. The most immediate of these concerns the 2012 budget, upon which negotiations are still continuing between Council and Parliament (they ought to reach a deal by December), the EU’s two budgetary authorities. Budget signifies resources, i.e. the chance to materialize those policies that the member states have in whole or in part delegated to Brussels. But, as we know, without money, or without sufficient money, it’s difficult to realize projects or make investments in the field. Again in terms of resources, negotiation for the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 are also still in progress (though in this case the deadline doesn’t come till 2013): in recent days the Commission has made proposals of allocations to various sectors, ranging from security to culture, from research (Horizon 2020) to healthcare. The responses of the governments of the 27 are now awaited; they will show whether they believe in political integration or not. Nor can we ignore, lastly, the question of the institutional functioning of the EU: the second anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty, which gave impulse to the “common home”, falls on 1st December. The fact is, however, that, under the impetus of the economic crisis, the call for a partial revision of the treaties is powerfully emerging. And yet the EU continues on its way…