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Iran highlights EU failings
Japan Times ,30th January 2006
By DAVID HOWELL
LONDON -- The battle for Europe's soul continues. Austria now holds the
presidency of the European Union until July, and the Austrians see themselves
very much as being at the heart of an integrated European state.
The Austrian leaders have therefore been calling for renewed attempts to create
a European constitution, following the collapse of earlier proposals for more EU
involvement in tax and social affairs in each member state, a much stronger
European foreign and security policy, and a bigger presence for the EU, as a
single bloc or entity, on the world stage.
Those who are skeptical about this "integrationist" agenda -- and they are
probably the majority in Europe as a whole -- argue that this is just the wrong
approach and that Europe should be adopting different priorities.
First, they point to the awkward fact that the EU is lagging badly in economic
terms. Despite grandiose plans for "overtaking America in 10 years," it is
stagnating. A recent report from former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho to the
EU Commission stresses that top European companies are turning away from the EU
and directing their new investment into Asia. His report sees a real decline in
the comfortable European lifestyle as the whole Continent remains locked in
over-regulation and protection.
With research spending and innovation falling well below the levels in either
Asia or America, Aho urges Europe to act "before it is too late."
Second, the skeptics question whether a single European state can ever stride
across the world stage in the way that some enthusiasts keep hoping. Not only is
the basic unity of outlook among the EU's 25 current members lacking. But the
whole EU approach is just too regional and inward looking, when the big problems
of the world are global.
For example, in handling the mounting difficulties with Iran it has become clear
that the EU attempt at solving the situation through diplomacy is heading
nowhere at all. The original idea was that the foreign ministers of Britain,
France and Germany would somehow do a deal with the fiery Iranians and persuade
them to halt their civil nuclear program.
But, of course, there will be no progress on Iran unless all the key players are
fully involved, including Russia, China, India and Japan. The idea that the EU
could somehow take the lead in dealing with the Iranians was an inflated conceit
that was bound to end in failure. And the American alternative -- which is to
mutter about the use of force -- is equally hollow and counter-productive. The
U.N. avenue is also blocked since key members like China and Russia are not
convinced that sanctions will do any good.
The problem is one of global dimensions, and it is the big Asian powers who need
to lead in tackling it. Individual European nations, like Britain, should have
been active from the start in links with Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo and Moscow to
deal with the Iranian threat. But the way was barred by the collective EU
"initiative," which has achieved nothing except to increase anti-Western feeling
in Iran and probably drive the country into the arms of China.
The realization that not only economic power but also global political power are
shifting eastward and must be at least shared, if not handed over, to the new
Asia, has just not sunk in to parochial European minds -- or at any rate those
of its current statesmen.
Nor has EU "foreign policy" had much more success in other fields. Endless
quarrels with the United States, on matters ranging from farm export subsidies,
aircraft subsidies and development aid, to energy and climate issues, to Iraq
and Middle East policy, have led to the worst trans-Atlantic relations in a
generation. The Atlantic has grown much wider.
All this calls for a fundamental reassessment of Europe's status and prospects.
The Austrian pressure for staying on the old, discredited track of more
political integration is pointing a false way. The people of Europe long for a
more flexible, diverse Europe, further enlarged to gently embrace Bulgaria,
Romania, Croatia, Turkey and other newcomers, and concentrating on competition,
enterprise and innovation -- not attempted adventures by a would-be EU
superstate on the world stage.
In Washington, where for many years EU integration was encouraged as "a good
thing," it is just now dawning that a unified European bloc in today's
conditions adds nothing to world stability and, worse, intensifies
anti-Americanism. Strengthening bilateral relations with individual European
states that are basically friendly to the U.S., although not necessarily
obedient lapdogs, offers a far more promising way of building a global network
that can truly work for peace and stability.
The more this perception spreads to other modern centers of opinion and power,
such as Tokyo or Delhi, the quicker the EU will be able to recover its dynamism
and focus on its true priorities.
Europe has much to offer the 21st century world and its challenges, but not in
the form of an overly centralized, homogenized bloc -- a lesson the Austrians
have evidently yet to learn.
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