*{One Voice to the World: Can Europe Deliver a Foreign Policy? [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/One%20Voice%20to%20the%20World%3A%20Can%20Europe%20Deliver%20a%20Foreign%20Policy%3F?open&topic_id=300350000&theme_id=300]

            01.02.2002

            Annual Meeting 2002

            One Voice to the World: Can Europe Deliver a Foreign Policy?}

            Deconstructing the title of this workshop session into its component parts, most participants appeared to agree that while Europe may be able to deliver a foreign policy, it is unlikely to speak with a single voice. Or, to put it another way, policy agreement is more likely to result from discussion and negotiation among the European Union’s member states, rather than the creation of a centralized foreign policy bureaucracy.

            Setting the stage for the discussion, facilitator Dominique Moïsi, Deputy Director, Institut Français des Relations Internationales, France, asked participants to focus on a number of related questions, including:
            Why have European states found it so difficult to achieve foreign policy unity, even as economic and legal integration has intensified? Will Europe be willing to spend the resources required to match its military and diplomatic means with its foreign policy ambitions?
            Should Europe focus on regions close to home, such as the Balkans and North Africa, or should it seek to operate on the same global scale as the United States?
            What are the implications of a more assertive Europe for NATO and the transatlantic alliance?
            Should the EU seek a closer relationship with Russia, and on what terms?

            Hubert Védrine, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, and Javier Solana Madariaga, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Secretary General of the Council, Brussels, outlined their own views. Given the inherent complexities, Védrine argued, the surprising thing is not that Europe has found it difficult to forge a common foreign policy, but rather that it has been able to reach agreement on so many basic issues. The notion the EU could or should assume sole authority for Europe’s foreign policy is "completely utopian," he said. Majority voting would be opposed by the larger European states, while requiring a policy consensus would lead to gridlock. The absence of a European Foreign Ministry, he noted, hasn’t prevented EU members from reaching common positions on key security issues, such as the Balkans -- a far cry from the bitter dissension that existed less than a decade ago.

            Enlargement of the European Union, Solana observed, will create a unified bloc with twice the population of the United States. Such an entity inevitably will play a more assertive role on the world stage. He predicted Europe would seek more direct involvement in the Middle East, closer relations with Russia, and greater influence at the IMF and other multilateral agencies. The mechanisms for European security cooperation already are being created, he noted, citing the EU’s decision to create a military rapid reaction force. European leadership of the peacekeeping force deployed to Afghanistan is a model for the future, he said.

            Following Solana’s remarks, participants broke into smaller groups to discuss these issues. The leaders of these groups then outlined their conclusions.

            The group led by Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of Latvia, concluded Europe could craft a common foreign policy, but that relations with Russia may prove a point of contention, particularly after EU enlargement. New members, she said, are likely to oppose what they see as attempts to placate Russia at their expense. "There are some who would feed the dragon innocent maidens, in the form of the Baltic countries," she said. "We would suggest that those who wish to feed the dragon do so at their own expense, not ours."

            The group led by Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, took perhaps the most ambitious position on European unity, saying the EU should move beyond peacekeeping functions to the creation of a full-fledged European military force. "You need a common military approach to have a common foreign policy," he said.

            On the other hand, the group led by George A. Papandreou, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, argued that in a pluralistic world, Europe’s consensus-driven policy approach achieves better long-term results than US unilateralism. "Diversity of opinion might be our strength, not our weakness," he said.                  

                  *{Contributors:       Barber Lionel
                  Bertram Christoph
                  Camus Philippe
                  Cem Ismail
                  Drozdiak William M.
                  Gretschmann Klaus
                  Janning Josef
                  Kennedy Paul M.
                  Lundgren Bo
                  Margelov Mikhail
                  Moïsi Dominique
                  Nastase Adrian
                  Papandreou George A.
                  Rabe Christoph
                  Sestanovich Stephen R.
                  Smith Gordon H.
                  Solana Madariaga Javier
                  Trajkovski Boris
                  Verhofstadt Guy
                  Védrine Hubert
                  Vike-Freiberga Vaira
                  Wallace William
                  Weston John P.}