Brussels, 26/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday afternoon, MEPs welcomed the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission during the special plenary session devoted to the Spring European Council, when left-wing benches bore banners that read "Stop the Killers", "Stop the War" ("Stop Saddam", was the banner displayed by British Conservative Charles Tannock on the other hand). Nelly Maes, Belgian Green member, explained that several MEPs had wished, on this occasion, to wear a black armband, as a sign of grief for the victims of the war in Iraq. During the debate (to which we shall return), even a few MEPs who justify the US-led intervention called upon American partners not to leave the road of dialogue and multi-lateralism. Regarding the Belgian initiative to reactivate European defence, some welcomed it, but Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the EPP-ED Group, asked whether it were appropriate to meet between so few Member States, when, only last year, Tony Blair had been criticised for having invited only a few Heads of Government to Downing Street. The president of the Socialist group, Enrique Baron, mainly criticised Richard Perle, the Pentagon's hawk, who affirmed that "thanks to God, the UN has failed". The president of the Liberal Group, Graham Watson, felt that transatlantic dialogue must be developed and mainly bear on reform of the UN and the role of international law. Do you have the "courage to ask the Americans to end this war", German national André Brie, for the United Left/Nordic Greens Left asked Costas Simitis, while co-president of the Greens Daniel Cohn-Bdndit asked whether, during its vote on a resolution, on Thursday, the Parliament would be "as ridiculous as the Council". He spoke of the banners recently seen during a meeting with young people ("which reminded me of old times", he added alluding to when he, himself, as student leader "Dany le Rouge" was at the head of May 68 demonstrations in France) whereby "bombarding for peace is like making love for virginity").
According to some, the summit should not even have taken place, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis admitted. He added that, if they had been harkened to, "we would have paid service to those who accuse the EU of being incapable of acting in the event of crisis". "There is a divide in Europe, it is true, but it will not be cured by making it even wider", Mr Simitis told those who described the position adopted by the summit on Iraq as "hypocritical". Yes, we first of all avoided tackling the "core of the problem" because it is already known, and because it was obvious we were not going to resolve it. In his view, the EU was therefore to focus on the post-war period, on the future, which "is just as important as the here and now", and in which the EU has a great deal to do. We must not let our quarrels stop the development of European integration, Mr Simitis said in substance, while admitting that the CFSP "is only at its first faltering mumblings". The EU is constantly developing and, over and beyond the current disagreements, it is a chance to avoid a world governed by a single super power, he insisted. He went on to conclude saying "we want world governance" and a return to "international legitimacy" in which the UN would have a "central role".
"We must not lie, either to ourselves or to the citizens", Romano Prodi, European Commission President, said, also speaking of the current divisions and the fact that the EU does not, today, play the role that it should play on the international scene. Recalling the humanitarian aid that the European Commission has just decided to deliver to Iraq largely exceeds that which the "whole world allocates to the poor countries" ($74.7 billion compared to 50 billion: see p.4), Mr Prodi exclaimed. "We know that humanitarian policies alone are not enough. … We know the world will not take heed of us until we put an end to our divisions. Until we stop relying on the European Union for economic growth and the United States for security". Citizens, he said, have already made up their minds. They want more peace, more multilateralism, more Europe, and this is something that goes very deep and that it would be unpardonable to ignore. Mr Prodi considered the Belgian initiative to reactivate European Defence could go far. The initiative, which was duly declared open, as it must not divide but unite, was not born out of nothing, Mr Prodi recalled, citing the Franco-British summit in Saint Malo in December 1998 (see also EUROPE of 24 August 2002, on the subject of the proposal by Guy Verhofstadt to create a European Headquarters, and EUROPE/Documents No 2300 dated 27 November 2002 on the Franco-British contribution to the European Convention). The initiative could be the embryo of what the European people are asking for, "our common defence", Mr Prodi remarked. Also (without citing Robert Kagan), he said, "We Europeans are not from Venus, as some would have us believe. The peoples of this old Europe have a long and bloodthirsty past behind us". There is no anti-Americanism in the European attitude, he assured, while warning: European interests can only be defined by Europeans. Mr Prodi also recalled that crises have often taken Europe forward: the failure of EDC (European Defence Community) and the Treaty of Rome, the crisis for conversion of the dollar inciting Europe to sow the "first seeds" of monetary Union, an oil crisis in the 70s and the monetary crisis in 92 which resulted in the Monetary System first of all and then in the EMU.