Van Rompuy’s summitry fails to convince
Disappointing outcome of extra meeting as diplomats say summit was badly prepared.
● Roma row overshadows summit
● Governance reforms put on hold, again
● EU waives tariffs for flood-struck Pakistan
● Council remains vague on external relations
● Leaders approve trade pact with South Korea
● Council in brief
After last week’s EU summit, national leaders are more sceptical than ever about the value of the European Council meeting more frequently. Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said at the beginning of the year that he would like national leaders to meet once a month, instead of the established pattern of twice every six months, in March, June, October and December.
Van Rompuy intended the extra September meeting to focus on foreign affairs and on relations with strategic partners. And for the first time since the Lisbon treaty came into force last December, he invited foreign ministers to attend the European Council.
But the outcome was disappointing.
There were two achievements in foreign affairs: an agreement on a free trade deal with South Korea and a commitment to make trade concessions to Pakistan. The South Korea deal was agreed by the foreign ministers who held a separate meeting on Thursday morning. But otherwise the pickings were thin. Although there is widespread agreement that improving relations with such emerging powers as China, India and Brazil is important for the EU, finding and agreeing steps to strengthen the EU’s negotiating position is not easy.
Minimal co-operation
Diplomats complained that the summit was badly prepared by Van Rompuy’s staff and that co-ordination with Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, was minimal. That might be a reflection of Van Rompuy’s limited resources – he has about 40 people working for him, whereas Ashton and José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, can draw on the resources of large Commission departments. Some diplomats observe that Van Rompuy has been reluctant to devote his energies to foreign affairs, preferring to concentrate on the economic issues that dominated the first half of 2010.
EU diplomats say that Thursday’s meeting illustrated the risk of having more summits without concrete decisions to take or pressing issues to discuss. The media coverage of the summit was taken over by the row between Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and the European Commission over the treatment of the Roma.
The argument took up an hour that leaders were supposed to spend on advancing negotiations on improving economic governance. The next European Council, on 28-29 October, will return to the topic of economic governance while the traditional December summit will focus on innovation.
Goodwill
The Lisbon treaty provides that the president of the European Council will use summits to shape a strategic direction for the EU. As Lisbon’s new procedures and structures are tested, there is still plenty of goodwill towards Van Rompuy. But if he is to win support for extra European Council meetings he has to prove that bringing 27 leaders to Brussels more frequently is time well spent.
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