Brussels, 12/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - The future of the European Union in the short, medium and very long term will be on the agenda of the informal seminar that the 27 European commissioners will be attending on Thursday 13 September at the Beloeil Château (Hainaut region). President José Manuel Barroso wants the College to examine the Commission's priority projects for the coming months but also wants to simulate a more “visionary” debate on the policies the Union will need “in the years and even the decades to come”. The objective is obviously not the preparation of concrete proposals for the next financial perspectives beyond 2014 (this will be the task of the new Commission that takes over in 2009), but it is rather, “reflection about the policies we want to follow and the results we want to accomplish” in the Union of tomorrow, explained Mr Barroso on Wednesday to the press during a presentation of the communication on the EU budget review (see other article). This debate has to begin now and has to be an open one, exclaimed the president of the Commission: “There should not be any taboos about the policies or budget”.
As for the priorities for the end of the year, the timetable is quite full: presentation next week of the proposal on the internal energy market; adoption at the end of September on the proposals on implementation of the decisions by the European Council of March 2007 on fighting climate change; adoption in October of an interim report on the renewed Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs; presentation in October of two draft directives on legal immigration; presentation in November of a communication expected to provide a health check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); adoption in December of a new report on the Lisbon strategy in view of the European Council in spring 2008. This is all without even mentioning the participation of the Commission at the intergovernmental conference (IGC) on the new treaty that could be finished in October.
The proposal by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to create a “committee of wise men” by the end of the year to examine “Europe in 2020-2030” may also be debated by commissioners on Thursday. The Commission explained that this was an idea that warranted examination, on the condition that it was not considered by Paris or others as an “alternative” to the Community process, particularly the accession process for Turkey. Paris, nonetheless, is drawing a direct link between implementation of a committee of wise men and Turkey because Mr Sarkozy has clearly indicated that accession negotiations with Ankara (even on the 30 chapters that do not inevitably lead to accession necessary for preparing a simple “close association” as called for by France) can only continue if this group is set up. Barroso is simply requesting a debate on the “finality of the European Union” but he does not agree that this be limited to the question of the EU's external borders alone, explained Commission sources. Last Friday at the informal foreign affairs meeting in Viana do Castelo, the commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, also stressed that he could not understand this group of wise men's “raison d'être” if it were to focus solely on the expansion of the EU's borders. However, he did recognise that it would be very useful to reflect upon “the future of the EU up to 2020-30” particularly with regard to “questions of how common policy functions after the new treaty and budget review”.
This week German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her support to Mr Sarkozy's suggestion about the group of wise men. The group will consist of senior quality figures that demonstrate both independence and wisdom, and who have a certain European vision but who do not currently exercise any role in the Community institutions. The group is expected to discuss enlargement but not just in relation to Turkey, explained Ms Merkel on Monday at the end of a meeting with Mr Sarkozy in Meseberg. According to the German Chancellor, the Portuguese presidency and other member states will have shown their support for the creation of this group before the end of the year. (hb)