Brussels, 04/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The first European Council summit of 2011, a special summit convened to deal with energy and innovation in theory, as explained by its chair, Herman Van Rompuy, in his invitation letter and the programme for the EU27 heads of state and government, ended up dealing with wider international issues like the situation in Egypt and the political upheavals taking place in other parts of North Africa and the Middle East, and these and the always sensitive issue of economic governance won pride of place. The summit's conclusions document on Egypt was released quickly but economic issues were debated long past the planned end of the summit, a key sign that the talks were animated and the Franco-German mooting of a Competitiveness Pact (of which they had already drawn up a draft) were not music to every country's ears.
The future of the EU's energy policy and the innovation drive were not problematic and the leaders soon agreed on a conclusions statement, highlighting two aspects of energy security, rapid conclusion (by 2014) of an EU energy market and foreign policy dimensions of this to ensure diverse energy sources and supply routes. The Council found it easy to agree on a series of measures that might encourage innovation to the advantage, they explained, of citizens, companies and researchers.
On Egypt, the EU27 leaders beefed up their position on the previous day and although the conclusions document does not mention the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, by name, it calls for transition to start immediately and for Egyptians' democratic aspirations to be answered by reform rather than repression, and encourages all parties to enter meaningful dialogue for an orderly transition to a broadly representative government. The EU pledges to construct a new partnership with Egypt and Tunisia (the latter is further down the transition path) and will be sending the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to both countries following her chairing of a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in Munich on Saturday.
Over lunch, when the heads of state and government were joined by the President of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, they discussed economic governance and dealing with the economic crisis and this is where the debate became heated. No decisions were expected to be taken, the idea being to ensure consolidation of progress since December ahead of actual decisions at the March 2011 European Summit, but the cat amongst the pigeons, in terms of both substance and method, was the Franco-German idea of presenting their partners with a Competitiveness Pact - a move that many delegations were unable to stomach despite the Morellino de Scansano and 2007 Tokai lunch in reference to the Hungarian Presidency.
After the meeting, Herman Van Rompuy made a clear distinction between the different stages of the summit, starting with “optimism” over energy and innovation (see in this connection the conclusions document at the end of the newsletter); followed by “concern” over what is happening in Egypt and the wider Middle East and Yemen; and then “determination” on economic governance and economic and monetary cohesion, determination that was confirmed by the depth and fervour of the debate.
There is no shadow of a doubt that the European Union wants to make further moves to reinforce economic governance, particularly in the eurozone, and boost its competitiveness. It also plans to strengthen its current country bailout fund and make it a permanent feature in 2013, but Paris and Berlin are encouraging and prodding their partners to advance faster and further. There will be an unprecedented special summit of eurozone leaders (there are now 17 countries in the euro) early next month, ahead of the full European Council meeting on 24 and 25 March which Van Rompuy states will definitely adopt a full package of measures on economic governance, banking, the temporary bailout fund, changing the Treaty to introduce a permanent mechanism, introducing the aid packages already decided for Greece and Ireland, reducing debt, bringing the public deficit back to acceptable levels and improving growth prospects.
There will a frenzy of diplomacy and negotiations between now and March. The methods used thus far by France and Germany have upset sensibilities - the Commission rejects the Franco-German Competitiveness Pact; the European Parliament points out that it prefers the “Community Method” (and has the fact that it has to endorse any changes to the Lisbon Treaty to back it up); Poland, Belgium and other countries have rejected the Merkel-Sarkozy plan, some more openly than others; and the European trade unions fear it will generate social unrest. (Gp/transl.fl)