The most traumatic six monthly rotation of the presidency of the Council has just taken place. The specific responsibility of preparing and leading the European summits has been transferred from the most dynamic president of recent times to a prime minister with a fragile and partly Euro-sceptic parliamentary majority. Let's not even mention the president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, who explicitly proclaims himself to be a EU “dissident” and who considers the EU as currently being bereft of any democratic legitimacy. The Czech Republic is the only member state whose parliament has still not ratified the Lisbon Treaty (except for Ireland, where the constitution requires a referendum) and which subsequently does not strengthen its authority or weight in the Union, even more so after president Klaus' announcement, that even after ratification, he will not sign the new treaty…until Ireland has made a definitive decision on the matter.
Intergovernmental method dominates where EU powers are weak. There is not much point focusing on the French Presidency for too long. Everything was said at the European Parliament debate by Nicolas Sarkozy himself, by the president of the European Commission and, obviously, by MEPs - our publication provided a broad report on it. I will just say that Mr Sarkozy stated that “Europe changed me. When one has the chance for six months to find out about and decide on the problems for 27 countries, we become more tolerant, our spirit of openness grows and we understand that Europe is undoubtedly the most beautiful idea of the 20th Century and that we need Europe more and more”. These are simple concepts that I would describe as almost elementary, at the basis of any action of the founding fathers but which have since been partly forgotten or betrayed. Mr Sarkozy himself affirmed that the six month stint of direct European responsibilities had changed him and admitted that he had previously not entirely understood the meaning and importance of a united Europe. We can only hope that he will not forget this discovery and that it will continue to inspire his future action.
The hyper-dynamic approach of the French president is sometimes criticised for having almost engulfed the European Commission by transforming it into a super-secretariat of the Council, but I believe that this ongoing development is not so much determined by the personality of the president of the European Council and the Commission president, as by the growing weight of the European Parliament. It is mainly due to the gradual extension of EP-Council codecision that the Commission's role is naturally (in several cases) becoming that of mediator (it has sometimes explicitly recognised this).
The areas where Europe gave the impression of working in an intergovernmental way are those where the EU's powers are (while waiting for the Lisbon Treaty) very limited: foreign policy (in connection with the intervention that helped stop the war in Georgia) and economic rescue plans (which rely on funding from member states due to the weakness of the Community budget). In the context of some aspects of the financial crisis where European powers are quite real, Community institutions and procedures are playing their role to the full, whether this is state aid (Commission) or interest rates and providing monetary liquidity (European Central Bank); Mr Sarkozy has gradually abandoned any criticism of the autonomy of these institutions and their procedures.
We can only hope that Bruno Le Maire, the new French secretary of state for European affairs, will follow the same path as his predecessor, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, whose management skills over the last six months went much further than public opinion perceived. I suspect that Mr Jouyet understood from the outset to what extent the initial Euro-Mediterranean project was mistaken and damaging to the very existence of the whole unified European market. In many other cases, his clairvoyance also proved a very precious asset.
Consolidation and progress. Nobody expects the new presidency to be as flamboyant as the previous one. This is not only because of the different dimensions in the two countries or the political situation in the Czech Republic, but also because of the specific moment in time in Community life: European elections in June, with inevitable repercussions on the activity of the Parliament; planned renewal of the European Parliament, which logically reduces the current presidency's initiatives at the end of its term in office. This is not, therefore, going to be six months of spectacular activity. The new presidency has, above all, the task of consolidating and pushing forward what is already underway: accession negotiations; the EU's Eastern partnership; the internal energy market; the preparation of global climate negotiations; relaunching negotiations with Russia; implementation of the Community dimension on economic revival. There are many other considerations that need developing but this will be for tomorrow.
(F.R./transl.rh)