Entangled Alliances

photo credit: Mossaiq

They are two perennial problems facing the European Union: a lack of a clear, coherent vision for the future of European integration and a lack of any real leader to implement this vision. Answering “who is the head of the European Union?” is far more complicated than it should be. The President of the Commission? The head of the largest party in Parliament (joking)? Or perhaps the head of the European Council – the leader of the state which happens to hold the rotating EU Presidency?

This problem has suddenly got that much more difficult to answer, as yesterday the Czech government, the current holder of the Presidency, lost a vote of no confidence. How can you lose power in your country but retain it over a much wider area, the EU? According to EurActiv, the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek said “At the moment, this situation has no effect on the role of the president of the European Council,” in a statement issued by the Czech Presidency.

Three things support the Czech Republic’s retention of the Presidency. First of all, the post is actualy held by the rather outspoken President Václav Klaus. And secondly, as EurActiv also points out, “Governments of EU countries have collapsed while they were holding the Union’s reigns twice before – in 1993 in Denmark and in 1996 in Italy.” It continues, however, by pointing out that it has never happened in an economic crisis before – and this is no small crisis.

It is worth considering the extent to which these events led to Topolánek’s outspoken attacks on Obama’s stimulus package in the European Parliament today. Indeed, as the BBC reported:

He attacked the US’s growing budget deficit and the “Buy America” campaign, saying “all of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell”.

Maybe something was lost in translation – but that’s pretty strong stuff.

The third thing that really supports Klaus’ position is the fact that, because the President doesn’t really do all that much (as has been repeatedly demonstrated in the past), nobody really cares. Yes, the President of the Council theoretically has power to significantly drive the agenda, but it doesn’t really make that much difference (compared to the status quo) if he doesn’t. One area in which Klaus may be seen to have affected the agenda is through his country’s refusal to ratify the Lisbon Treaty – but even this may be seen more through the prism of domestic politics than a deliberately obstructionist policy as President of the Council. My point is – yes, he’s put something of a break on further integration, but there’s no reason to suspect that this wouldn’t have happened if hadn’t been in this European role.

Nevertheless, it’s certainly not a great situation: the government of the country that holds the Presidency of the European Union has just collapsed, significantly (it seems) due to the way they’ve handled the economy. Which makes these problems that much more difficult to handle at a European level, when, despite the weak institutional powers, strong leadership could have a significant positive effect.

The Presidency will be held by the Czech Republic until a mere three weeks before European Parliament elections. It’s not a great advertisement for why people should care about – or engage with – the EU.

Update: Mark Mardell thinks it could have a bigger effect, particularly on ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and sensitve negotiations over the Working Time Directive. Maybe this could indeed be Sarkozy’s moment to come to the rescue.. but don’t hold your breath

In an earlier post on language I alluded to the idea of a European “demos”, that elusive common sense of European identity and political community which would seem to be the key to any chance of “ever closer union”.  The disconnect between European citizens and their governing institutions is certainly stark.  Have you talked to anyone lately who’s getting excited about the upcoming elections to the European Parliament?  Can anyone doubt that the election of the American president was a much more exciting prospect for an overwhelming majority of Europeans than the selection of a new president of the EU Commission?  And what of the question of identity?  A resident of Manchester would probably describe him or herself as British, English, Northern and Mancunian before considering, if at all, that he or she might be European.

photo credit: Albertane

Some argue that it’s impossible to achieve a common political identity across 27 member states, pointing to different political traditions, language barriers and the enduring pride of the nation-state.  The possibility of “demos” and the very logic of supra-national representation was, for example, attacked by Czech President Vaclav Klaus in the European Parliament last month.  The attitude of Klaus, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council (bring on Sweden), is indicative of a habit of  unproductive naysaying.  It slams the European project without offering solutions and delights only those with preconceived Eurosceptic attitudes.

Without indulging in the media-fostered image of phantom overlords plotting away in Eurospeak in their Brussels hideaways, then, I fully admit the need for a greater sense of relevance for the EU and the importance of attempts to foster “Europeanness”.  Indeed, in response to Klaus’s challenge, the task of pro-Europeans is to identify measures that could be taken to improve the extent to which Europeans identify with their policy makers and planners.  Below the fold, I discuss some of these ideas.

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