We are a little less ashamed of being European. For a long time, the tendency was for self-flagellation: Europe had to apologise for everything, for its history, for its past conquests, even for its civilisation. Not trying to hide the dark episodes, that's one thing; feeling guilty for everything, that's grotesque. At the moment, Europe is taking the reins of two huge international initiatives which the whole world has, to a greater or lesser extent, been calling for as essential: combating climate change and all its concomitant dangers (food crises, lack of water, destruction of nature), and the search for enhanced forms of world governance, based on the general interests of humanity. At the same time, there seems to be fresh impetus for building Europe, after the serious damage done by lack of understanding and misinformation on European integration and its aims. Where is it that I see these early signs of brightness?
At the forefront. With regard to environmental issues, Europe, fortunately, is not alone: awareness of the real dangers is growing elsewhere too. As usual, it is in the United States that it is causing the biggest stir: powerful and influential films, some A-list celebrities. For the country which rejected Kyoto, this is a significant development, and one which was essential. At the same time, China is beginning to realise the terrible environmental disasters which its uncontrolled industrial development was causing on its own soil; knowing China, we can be sure that its actions will be vigorous and wide-ranging. It is in Europe, however, that the real spark has been ignited. On 8-9 March, the European Council will adopt binding and quantitative commitments, which will show the way. Angela Merkel, who will chair the discussions, has said that Europe has to lead the way, while stressing that one continent acting alone cannot remove the dangers that threaten the whole planet. She is not alone: other heads of government who have not always been at the forefront of European battles - quite the reverse, in fact - like Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair, have spoken out strongly and eloquently.
The European Parliament is moving in the same direction too. Its significant beefing-up of the European Commission's draft action plan on waste is enlightening. Carried by 651 votes to 19, the EP plan goes far beyond what the Commission proposed (see Aminata Niang's full account of the debate and the vote in EUROPE 9366). Of course, there will be some political organisations and bodies which say that it is not enough, and we have to do more. In this area, their lack of satisfaction is also useful and stimulating. The main thing is that we are making progress.
Towards world governance. The aspiration of stronger and more widespread world governance is moving in the same direction. Only one single international organisation, among those that count, has binding decision-making powers and mechanisms: the World Trade Organisation (WTO). But there is unwillingness to grant it competence to determine the environmental and social conditions which, in my opinion, must be linked to free trade. The refusal to do so is, I believe, of the greatest danger to the WTO: there will be more and more opposition to trade liberalisation with no conditions attached in these areas. The EU is already moving away from this unregulated liberalism; if freedom of trade does not tend towards some discipline, the EU will seek bilateral agreements containing environmental and social standards, and also the “Singapore subjects” (intellectual property, investment, services) which were to be excluded from the Doha Round (see the preparation of the EU position ahead of bilateral negotiations with ASEAN in EUROPE 9365). With no development in this direction, supplemented, of course, by the special conditions rigorously reserved for the planet's poorest countries, the WTO will come tumbling down. And the EU must stay at the forefront of the fight for world governance.
A new Community? I will give just one example of the impression that there is renewed desire to take European integration forward once more: the initiative of a group of MEPs for foreign, security and defence policy union (see EUROPE 9366). The aim is to have at least half of MEPs sign this project before 30 April, thus making it an EP document that can be submitted to the European Commission and the Council.
(F.R.)