CZAREK SOKOLOWSKI/AP PAY ATTENTION: Poles celebrate Union membership after a yes vote in their referendum

Posted Sunday, June 15, 2003; 14.29BST
"The world has changed — it is dangerous, disorganized and dehumanized," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin informed the Convention earlier this month. "We do not resign ourselves to a feeble Europe that is a spectator in the world." That's lovely rhetoric, but the reality has fallen far short. Marek Siwiec, National Security Adviser to Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, says that when his country faced the choice of backing the U.S. in Iraq, the E.U. complained but didn't offer a credible alternative. "We knew exactly what America wanted to achieve — the removal of Saddam Hussein — but we didn't hear any alternative approach from the E.U.," he says. "We want to be a party to a European foreign policy, but there is none."

The new constitution creates the position of European Foreign Minister to express a single voice on foreign policy, but neither the U.K. nor France is willing to give up its veto power over the E.U.'s policies. And even if the E.U. does manage to agree, it won't amount to much in most cases unless member states are willing to back it up by force. In military spending, the E.U. has yielded the field — happily in most cases — to the Americans. But it's a big, chaotic world. An E.U. that can pitch in — one that can forcefully argue its case and win — would go a long way to making itself matter to its citizens.

SHOULD BRUSSELS HAVE MORE POWER?
There are plenty of people throughout the Union who feel the E.U. has quite enough power already, thank you very much. John Holbrow's small firm in Woking, Surrey, in the U.K. monitors air pollution and stands to profit from environmental legislation out of Brussels. But he fears the march of the Eurocrats is unstoppable. "In the end, why do we need M.P.s, why do we need Parliament?" he wonders. "In the future they are going to be relegated to the role of a county council, at best." In a way, he's right. National parliaments in the E.U. can only pass laws on employment, economic governance or the environment, for instance, if they comply with existing directives from Brussels. But E.U. legislation isn't made by fiat: laws are proposed by the Commission and approved by both the democratically elected (if too often invisible) European Parliament and by representatives of national governments.

Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next

	Eu'ro'pho'bia [Jun. 9, 2003 ] n A strong fear, found chiefly among the British, that giving more power to The European Union spells doom New Europe, Old Economy [Jun. 2, 2003 ] Poland is America's new best friend. But the country is also in deep distress The Plan That Fell To Earth [May 5, 2003] Giscard unfurls a new E.U. blueprint, and the smaller states see red A Week in Hell [Mar. 24, 2003] At the precipice of war, facing mutiny at home, Tony Blair stays cool Search all issues of TIME Magazine