“Competitiveness pact” project is now a reality. If I were asked ultimately to sum up the importance of last Friday's European Council, my answer would be quite clear: the birth of EU economic governance or at least governance of the eurozone. I am obviously aware of some of the divisions that still remain: the rejection of certain aspects contained within the Merkel-Sarkozy project and negotiations required to define the contents and operational modalities for this project.
The situation was also clearly summed up by the managing editor on the opening page of our publication on Saturday preceding the report on the results and debates of the summit and the official texts.
Why do I consider that the old dream of European economic governance, which a few months ago barely appeared to be anything other than a figment of the imagination, is now almost a reality? The first reason is that the president of the European Council calmly announced that on 24 and 25 March European economic governance would become a reality and he is not someone who would ramble on about it, if this were not the case. The second reason is that Ms Merkel in fact admitted that her Stability Pact project was not yet defined or set in stone. This is undoubtedly her fundamental position but it does not constitute a diktat. The third reason is that Mr Van Rompuy announced that he will be organising a meeting between heads of state and government from the eurozone, before the resumption of general negotiations. This is not the first time that he has arranged meetings of this kind. He considers that this option is contained within his prerogatives and no one has opposed this initiative.
Courage and loyalty of two Socialist prime ministers. The action by Mr Papandreou and Mr Zapatero is particularly important. In my opinion (all things considered), the line that they have adopted has preserved the dignity of the Socialist governments. They want their countries to remain within the euro group and they know that this is not possible unless the eurozone's rules are respected and will subsequently and quite logically involve their citizens paying taxes and retiring later. We also know that China has announced that it will purchase Greek treasury bonds.
Institutional concerns. I acknowledge that from an institutional point of view, the clearly inter-governmental framework in which economic governance is taking shape creates a number of concerns. Any transfer of competence to the EU has been ruled out and the role of the European Commission remains marginal. Jacques Delors and other top-flight figures obviously do not agree. I have to ask myself, however, whether this recognisably and undoubtedly very serious cause for concern does not actually constitute something that could prove useful? It confirms the failure of one raft of institutional reform contained within the Lisbon Treaty. Two aspects are working: the rising power of the European Parliament and (perhaps even too much) the weight exerted by the permanent president of the European Council. One aspect that is malfunctioning, however, is the dual role of the high representative for European affairs and the vice-president of the European Commission. I am not talking about the person but the role itself. She is practically not participating in any European Commission meetings but has at her disposal a plethora of different services, whose effectiveness has not yet been proven. Neither Mr Van Rompuy nor the government leaders (who are increasingly tackling the question of EU foreign policy themselves) appear to be concerned by this question. The declaration by Nicolas Sarkozy to the press last Friday after the summit shed some light on this issue: “I do not think that the governments of the 27 member states should be quiet because we now have Ms Ashton; some countries know the Arab countries better”.
This commentary does not seek to assess the way in which the Union now operates but rather, to announce that, in practice, economic governance of the eurozone now exists and will soon be officially recognised. (F.R./transl.fl)