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Will There Be Blue Skies Over Berlaymont?
The atmosphere is more poisonous than usual in Brussels at the moment. The city is under a smog alert and metro passengers are warned by announcements that "It is every citizens responsibility to ensure they cut down on their emissions of pollutants". Under the clearer skies of Strasbourg, President Barroso is sitting in the Hemicycle hoping for a bright new future for his Commission. He isn't looking very comfortable, with good reason. Although the Parliament is expected to approve the 27 chosen ones, recent events look foreboding. The EU was sidelined at Copenhagen and President Obama's decision not to attend the EU Summit is causing great concern, not because people are angry, but because they understand his reasons for staying away. It seems to have been forgotten, but the Lisbon Treaty was meant to enable the EU to act, for the first time as a global player. Instead, it seems to be prohibiting these ambitions. Instead of bringing coherence, it has led to an unprecedented level of confusion. Kissinger's test of "What number do I call?" has been made less clear. Who does Obama call? Barroso? Ashton? Van Rumpoy? Is it any surprise that a US President, with enormous problems on his desk, isn't interested in a disorganised EU? The Confusion deepened during the hearings into the Commissioners Designate. Each one was asked about how they would work post-Lisbon, where the responsibilities lie. Each one answered along the lines of "We're working it out", "We shall see". This is hardly the sign of a new streamlined Europe. The fact is that, throughout the decade long process to get reform through, nobody put any real thought into how Lisbon would actually work. Just think about that for a moment. The biggest upheaval of the EU, that took extraordinary efforts to get approved and, at the end of this rocky road, nobody knows how the Treaty is going to work in practice.
Presenting the Commissioners to Strasbourg, President Barroso said, "We can start by asking ourselves: does the EU count in the world? And the answer is yes. But does the EU count as much as it should in the world? The answer is… not yet."
Not yet. Given the seriousness of the crisis facing the continent, alongside tough international issues that will not be going away for the foreseeable future, the question must surely be, if not now, when?
Meanwhile, it is certain that Barroso will return to the Berlaymont with his new Commission, but the atmosphere in Brussels is likely to remain poisonous for some time, at least until the smog lifts and a credible and coherent procedure for putting Europe on the world stage is put in place. In the meantime, don't hold your breath.
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