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Superpower status is elusive goal for EU
If superpower status could be measured in terms of the air miles notched up by its envoys, the European Union could now be considered a serious rival to the United States in the global rankings.
If superpower status could be measured in terms of the air miles notched up by its envoys, the European Union could now be considered a serious rival to the United States in the global rankings.
A glance at the diary of Javier Solana shows the EU's
foreign policy and security supremo shuttling between three continents in the past couple of weeks alone, taking in Egypt, China, Japan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Sweden.
His colleague at the European Commission, External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, has demonstrated a similar wanderlust with trips to South Korea, Hong Kong and Yugoslavia.
Both Solana and Patten want to see the EU, derided for decades as ''an economic giant but a political pygmy'', assume a role on the global stage which more accurately reflects the combined wealth and population of the 15-member bloc. But despite its efforts to muscle in on the Middle East peace process and its leading role in Balkan reconstruction, the EU is still far from achieving the kind of ''superpower'' status that British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently set as a goal. ''A common European foreign policy is a very long-term project. It could take 20 years or more to develop a coherent foreign policy,'' said Charles Grant of the London-based centre for European reform.
Analysts said that the EU had shown signs of better coordination in some areas, especially in the Balkans, and said the bloc's decision earlier this year to set up a military rapid reaction force should greatly boost its credibility over time.
But they cited recent differences on North Korea and the Middle East as evidence of the kind of disunity Solana's appointment to his new post a year ago was intended to end. Lack of unity in EU policy generally has been cited as one reason for the slide in the Euro, Europe's single currency, by almost 30 percent against the dollar since its January 1999 launch.
This month Britain and Germany announced separately ahead of an EU-Asian Summit in Seoul that they would recognise Stalinist North Korea. Their move pre-empted France, the current EU President, and also took the European Commission by surprise.
Spain has also moved to open diplomatic ties with pyongyang. France had to put a brave face on things, saying any sovereign state was entitled to establish diplomatic ties but declining to follow suit for the time being.
Bureau Report
Both Solana and Patten want to see the EU, derided for decades as ''an economic giant but a political pygmy'', assume a role on the global stage which more accurately reflects the combined wealth and population of the 15-member bloc. But despite its efforts to muscle in on the Middle East peace process and its leading role in Balkan reconstruction, the EU is still far from achieving the kind of ''superpower'' status that British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently set as a goal. ''A common European foreign policy is a very long-term project. It could take 20 years or more to develop a coherent foreign policy,'' said Charles Grant of the London-based centre for European reform.
Analysts said that the EU had shown signs of better coordination in some areas, especially in the Balkans, and said the bloc's decision earlier this year to set up a military rapid reaction force should greatly boost its credibility over time.
But they cited recent differences on North Korea and the Middle East as evidence of the kind of disunity Solana's appointment to his new post a year ago was intended to end. Lack of unity in EU policy generally has been cited as one reason for the slide in the Euro, Europe's single currency, by almost 30 percent against the dollar since its January 1999 launch.
This month Britain and Germany announced separately ahead of an EU-Asian Summit in Seoul that they would recognise Stalinist North Korea. Their move pre-empted France, the current EU President, and also took the European Commission by surprise.
Spain has also moved to open diplomatic ties with pyongyang. France had to put a brave face on things, saying any sovereign state was entitled to establish diplomatic ties but declining to follow suit for the time being.
Bureau Report