Europa sucht verzweifelt Spitzenpolitiker

“Das Potential für Spannungen, Grabenkämpfe und dysfunktionale Lösungen für das Trio an der EU-Spitze ist sehr hoch“, schreibt Corinna Hörst, stellvertretende Leiterin des Brüsseler Büro des Deutschen Marshall Fund in einer Novembermitteilung.

The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December will end „eight years of what was euphemistically called ‚a period of reflection‘, but which to many in Europe and elsewhere looked a lot more like anguished self-doubt or lethargic navel-gazing,“ writes Hörst.

With the two new top jobs (the new president of the European Council and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs) and the new commissioner posts to be filled, „the EU top jobs carousel has suddenly spun into overdrive,“ she says.

„European leaders managed to considerably narrow down the list of candidates for the EU’s president by way of elimination,“ Hörst recalls. „Britain’s former premier Tony Blair was swiftly excluded as unpalatable to too many countries,“ she adds. 

„The Germans and the French agreed that the new post should be held by a Christian Democrat from a small country,“ she continues, thus excluding Hubert Védrine and Joschka Fischer.  

„The selection process for the High Representative, the top foreign policy job at the European Commission, is similar to that for the president in that he (or she) must represent the entire Union and its citizens,“ she explains, adding: „The logic of political balance therefore dictates that the ‚High Rep‘ will be chosen from the centre-left.“

The foreign ministers of the UK and Italy, David Miliband and Massimo D’Alema respectively, are the two names being mentioned, the paper states.

The European Parliament stands „ready to hold hearings on the members of the new Commission,“ Hörst writes, recalling that „it has a right of approval for each member, as well as the ‚High Rep'“.

„The Lisbon Treaty provides for the creation of a new European External Action Service (EEAS) – effectively, a diplomatic corps for Europe – but its legal status, functional scope, and budgetary foundation are all grey areas that must now be addressed urgently,“ the paper states.

Moreover, „the relationship between the new president of the European Council (elected for 2½ years) and the EU member state holding the rotating EU presidency for six months also needs to be worked out,“ Hörst says. „Spain, Belgium and Hungary – the three countries next in line – have just announced that they don’t want to see their roles and functions undermined under the new system.“

According to Hörst, „none of the candidates on offer for the new, improved European top jobs are ideal“.

But she recalls that „in 1985 – at the apex of Eurosclerosis – a certain Jacques Delors, then a little-know former French finance minister, was made president of the Commission under very similar circumstances“. 

He „went on to a triumphant 10-year tenure in which he managed to give the European Union a reinvigorated sense of direction and dynamism,“ she concludes.