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COMMENTARY
Europe: A house divided,
but still standing
BRUSSELS -
Although unable to turn its vaunted common foreign
policy into anything resembling a success, the European
Union is nevertheless becoming quite adept at forever
staving off collapse by means of what can only be
described as a policy of attrition.
Whenever
discord threatens, the bloc's foreign-policy makers
resort with increasing confidence to parading
lowest-common-denominator positions as consensus, saving
face and allowing it to put off difficult decisions for
a few more days or weeks.
Many observers
predicted that the differences on Iraq are too deep to
allow reconciliation and will fatally damage the common
project. Yet, a "common position" emerged from Monday's
talks.
First, the EU's Greek presidency
persuaded the four EU members on the UN Security Council
- Britain, France, Germany and Spain - to endorse a
general list of principles, which a senior Greek
official on January 24 described as merely "food for
thought". Then the compromise was presented to the
remaining 10 EU governments, which they evidently did
not have much difficulty endorsing.
Presenting
the common position to journalists, Greek Foreign
Minister George Papandreou was clearly keener on
dwelling on its objectives than the methods required to
achieve them. "I believe that our conclusions today are
a solid basis for constructive, creative and concerted
effort for a way forward, where our objective remains
full disarmament, total cooperation of Iraq, [and the]
peaceful resolution of the UN process, which is a
possibility," he said.
Papandreou stressed that
the onus remains on Iraq, but made clear that the EU
still believes war can be averted if Saddam Hussein's
government is sufficiently cooperative.
Papandreou said that he expects the four EU
members on the UN Security Council - veto holders France
and Britain, as well as rotating members Germany and
Spain - to coordinate their actions in the future on the
basis of the newfound consensus.
Yet, Papandreou
conceded that the common position does not address the
central issues behind the clear divisions between
Britain and Spain, who are supportive of the tough US
line against Iraq, and antiwar Germany and France. The
position merely says the EU supports an extension of the
UN inspectors' mandate in Iraq, but does not say by how
long, nor whether a second UN resolution is necessary to
decide on war.
Papandreou said that it is
neither the right time nor the EU's role to pronounce on
either issue, seeming to imply both should be left to
the UN Security Council - and by extension that EU
countries on the Security Council must make their own
decisions when it comes to it. "Of course, [UN Security
Council Resolution] 1441 does not give a specific time
frame [for the inspectors' mandate], and I think we
would be out of order if we in the European Union tried
to make this somewhat arbitrary judgement. Secondly, a
second [UN] resolution. Again, I think we'd be jumping
the gun. We haven't reached that point," Papandreou
said.
To be fair, Papandreou was speaking before
chief weapons inspector Hans Blix gave the UN Security
Council his report on whether Iraq has complied with the
first resolution. Hence, he said, the EU must "closely
follow" the developments of the next few days, among
them the Tuesday discussions in the Security Council,
the State of the Union address of US President George W
Bush, also Tuesday, and the meeting between Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on January 31.
However, on first impression, the "wait-and-see"
approach is not likely to make decisions easier for the
EU. Reacting to the assessment of Blix that Iraq had not
fully cooperated with UN inspectors, White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer appeared to toughen the US
stance, saying Iraq must comply "in all regards", and
that if the "answer is only partially yes, the answer is
'no'."
Attempting to divert criticism,
Papandreou repeatedly emphasized the fact that Monday's
consultations between an EU presidency and member states
on the UN Security Council were the first of their kind.
He said consultations of this type would from now on
become the norm, adding that candidate country Bulgaria
- currently a non-permanent member of the Security
Council - would also be "closely" involved.
Copyright (c) 2003, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC
20036
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