I m not going to break the rather dusty tradition of starting the new year with a balance sheet of the previous year, but I will be brief. I believe that 2002 was a good year for the European project. "For the European project", not necessarily for all citizens. To explain. European experienced another difficult year in terms of the economy - slow growth, too high a level of unemployment, higher levels of terrorism and lack of security not yet sufficiently under control. It's hardly surprising that public opinion is concerned and downbeat. But the European project is in no way the cause of the global economy's bad health. On the contrary, it is Europe's "insufficiency" that is blocking or slowing down recovery. For example, several commentators believe that greater coordination of Member States' economic policies, allowing Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to walk on two feet rather than hopping along on its monetary foot, would guarantee greater growth. European integration tends to be positive, even if the signs are not immediately perceptible - it sheltered the EU from monetary storms and it is in strengthening it that stability, employment, technological progress, the environment, etc, can be improved and the European model of society safeguarded, with appropriate fine-tuning.
Three steps forward for the history books. That said, the European project made three steps forward in 2002 that will be listed in the history books of the future:
1. Concluding negotiations with ten candidate countries. Eight of them Central and Eastern European countries which have made exceptional efforts. The accession target made them speed up their economic transformation after the Communist ice age, and also, more importantly, consolidate freedom, democracy and the solution of ethnic minority problems. This is a crucial result for the stability of Europe and the world, to be put down to the countries in question, but also to the fact that the EU exists, along with its rules.
2. The euro's consolidation and success. We still come across a fair amount of rubbish about the euro, particularly in terms of badly interpreted opinion polls. The euro's value has overshot the dollar, but while there were constant headlines in the media when the euro fell, we were not given the pleasure of headlines on the euro's rise. The importance of the euro-dollar exchange rate has always been overestimated - there was no reason to despair yesterday, and no reason to gloat today. The euro being stronger than the dollar does not always have a positive impact, but what would we be spared in terms of details about the opposite situation! In reality, the benefits of the euro extend beyond its exchange rate - it protects Europe from the frequent (tragic) monetary crises of yesteryear, ensuring interest rates are at a level that would otherwise have been unthinkable in some Member States.
3. The Convention confirmed as the indispensable forum for reforming the EU. The final success is far from won, but the results so far are considerable and we are now certain that it is the right method - tomorrow's Europe can only be born of the Convention. In the event of failure, it would be better (in Jean-Luc Dehaene's works) to not convene the IGC (the Intergovernmental Conference); At the end of last year with full clarity and transparency, the Convention looked at the Foreign and Defence Policy, which will determine the Europe of the future.
Many other major results can be added to the above three, following on from one another month after month without always making the headlines they deserve. I won't bore readers with a list, but will simply cite reform of the competition policy (cartels and abuse of dominant positions), reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (painful but indispensable, unthinkable without the "Community Method"), the boost to vital European policies like progress in the area of justice/freedom/security, the Single European Sky, maritime safety, company governance and freeing up energy markets.
There are also gaps and delays, sometimes large ones, but they have been rigorously condemned and deadlines have been set for remedying them. With hindsight, I believe we can see renewed interest in European issues among public opinion and renewed debate. The high tide of euroscepticism appears to have waned (apart from in the United Kingdom) and positive ideas are now clearly audible again. Nothing's been won, but everything seems to be possible for the Old Continent, once again in the limelight on the world stage.
(F.R.)