A few points to clear up. During the hearings of the future Commissioners, the MEPs raised the issue of the Union's external actions, without going into any details. The big changes will come in 2006 or 2007 when Javier Solana takes up his post as European Foreign Minister. Before this happens, the problem of keeping an institutional balance will have to have been resolved, with a vice-president of the Commission who will act as a Council representative, chair the Foreign Affairs Council and coordinate all aspects of the Union's external action, including those which other Commissioners are responsible for (see this column of 30 September). The External Relations planks which are currently Community ones could in practice become CFSP (Common Foreign and Security Policy) instruments, which comes under the intergovernmental heading. This kind of institutional imbroglio deserves closer attention. The EU has two years to get ready. But the Barroso Commission needs to clear up a couple of issues now concerning its immediate activity, and which could partly overshadow what will happen next.
Specific objectives. During the "hearings", the MEPs did not directly mention just one aspect of this vast problem: that of relations between foreign policy and the development cooperation policy. In her letter to the Parliament president Josep Borrell on the hearing of the new Commissioner for development, Louis Michel, Luisa Morgantini, president of the Parliament's committee on development, expressed the "serious concern" of her committee "as to the way competencies have been shared out with the European Commission, especially the allocation of the authority of the Commissioner in charge of development on EuropAid". The issue is not new. Readers may remember the past trials and tribulations which led to EU aid to third countries being split into two: the Commissioner for External Relations is in charge of aid to Mediterranean countries, Latin America, Asia and the countries of the East; the Commissioner for Development is in charge of that for the ACP countries and South Africa, plus humanitarian aid (managed by ECHO, whatever its destination). They may also remember the heated debates which accompanied the creation of EuropAid, the office to manage all these funds, under the shared political responsibility of the two aforementioned Commissioners. Some MEPs said that this system, and the way power is shared between Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Louis Michel are unbalanced, and accentuate the confusion between development cooperation and foreign policy. Funds under the latter are to help to deal with disasters, to react to current events, whereas development aid is more to prevent risk via medium and long-term actions; both types of operation have specific objectives, but complement each other. There is a certain fusion at play here, for example when money for the "peace facility" in favour of the ACP countries comes under EDF (even if various usage limitations allow the peace facility to be considered official development aid, ODA). The MEPs call for the Development Commissioner to be able to "supervise the whole cycle of development policy projects, programming and application".
Louis Michel's priority. The Commissioner kept quiet during the debate. He just said that he hoped for smooth and efficient cooperation with Ms Ferrero-Waldner. His concern is the effectiveness of EU action in favour of poor countries, especially African ones. Referring to his experience as Belgian Foreign Minister, he said: "When one grasps the reality of the Africa of suffering, this brings with it personal upheaval. It is impossible not to be permanently affected. One feels guilty for not having become involved earlier". He wants his actions to voice his "vision of things", which is not the same as that of his predecessor: "Just because the person in the job today has developed a rather un-political style of management does not mean that there is no other way of doing it". We have to go back to Lorenzo Natali to find similar tones about Europe's responsibility towards Africa.
Powerful resources. But the importance of the affair far exceeds development cooperation. The efficiency of the Union's external actions requires coherence and a joint usage of the various elements at the EU's disposal, and which are very powerful: billions of euros, a potentially extraordinarily effective trade policy (as demonstrated by Pascal Lamy), a negotiation force which far outstrips classic diplomacy (examples; "open sky" negotiations, or those on Galileo or competition rules). The competencies are divided between several Commissioners. But they all must act coherently; This is one of the major challenges awaiting the Barroso Commission.
(F.R.)