The European Union wants to have a president. It doesn’t
matter that it already has a president of the European
Commission. The EU believes it needs a bona fide “president.”
Toward what end is not clear.
At this moment European power brokers are negotiating among
themselves as to what kind of president they want — an
international superstar like Tony Blair or perhaps some
supporting actor such as a current or former head of a
modest-sized government like Belgium, Luxembourg, or the
Netherlands. It doesn’t really matter except to the very
parochial European politicians responding to the protestations of
partisan local press.
They also want a foreign minister, or at least someone who
can run EU foreign affairs. What that might be is certainly up
for definition as each of the 27 member countries has its own
foreign minister and, presumably, its own foreign policy. But
then each also has its own head of government or state depending
on whether it has a parliamentary or presidential system.
This is all very confusing to the American mind that thinks
a president is a president, is a president. Obviously the job of
EU president is supposed to bring some order to a bureaucracy at
EU headquarters in Brussels that has mutated and proliferated
like a bad case of hives. All governments seem to suffer from a
form of protozoan self-division and multiplication, so a
government of governments obviously could not be expected to be
dissimilar. But the EU has exceeded the norm.
To be fair — and one wants to be fair to our older cousins
— now that Europe has decided to solve all its past tendencies
toward self-destruction by unifying itself, perhaps it is only
logical that it has created a post to oversee the running of the
union of European governments. But of course these players don’t
want any single individual actually to do that. They also don’t
want that person to be just a figurehead. They want a real
president, they say. They do, but they don’t, but they do.
Hmmm.
Looking on the bright side one could hope that the new EU
president would use his/her powers (whatever they might be) for
good: sort of like Superman, Batman, Spiderman and all those
other super heroes. To start with the EU president could take
firm steps to aid in preventing Iran from producing a nuclear
weapon. Oh, sorry, that one is not really what they have in
mind.
Perhaps the EU president could act to deter the tendencies
of Putin-Medvedev — or is that Medvedev-Putin — from expanding
Russia’s power once again to encompass, or at least exercise
control over, the republics of the former Soviet Union. Well, no,
that’s also not really what is wanted. At least that’s what EU
diplomatic sources say.
It seems that all parties agree that the EU headquarters in
Brussels needs some serious shaking up and shaking out. That’s
certainly not the sort of job on which superstars like Blair
desire to spend their time. Actually even the several small
nation candidates would not be happy at having that as their
principal role.
The real problem no one wants to talk about is that the
“king” making is being skewed by the angelic Angela Merkel,
Germany’s newly reelected Chancellor and the prototypical German
school teacher/hausfrau/pleasant political shark. Without her,
and Germany’s, approval, the entire European president
sweepstakes goes nowhere. By the way, this is true in the
choosing of the right candidate and also that individual’s
eventual success in the job.
Of course, France and little Nicolas Sarkozy would like to
be considered of the same weight in the EU president stakes, but
it’s just not true. Germany is the big dog; France is of more
modest size in comparison, though together they can swing crucial
decisions of the EU.
Nothing is more striking in the division of American and
European perception than the near total lack of interest that
exists in the U.S. — including even the more sophisticated
centers of Washington — over who will be the president of the
European Union. While the European media are consumed with every
little crumb of information and gossip on this issue, there is
virtually no coverage in the American press. And why should it be
any different?
The ultimate aim of the EU is to act as a balance and/or an
alternative to the economic and political power of the U.S.,
China, and, increasingly, Russia. Lip service is paid by EU
members to peace and prosperity of the various regions of the
developing world, but that ultimately is aimed toward the
economic benefit of Europe. The 19th century rides again in a
different form — at least that’s the unstated European hope —
minus wars, of course!
