The Commish

Henry Kissinger once famously asked whom he should call if he wanted to talk to Europe. It was a snide comment about the weak accountability and unwieldy power structure of the European Union. But these days, as the E.U. grapples with a constitutional crisis and gridlock over both its budget and its policies, the answer to Kissinger's question, almost by default, could just be Peter Mandelson.

That might seem an unlikely role for a confidant and former close aide to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Since November 2004, Mandelson, 51, has been the European Commissioner in charge of trade policy. This isn't Europe's top job, but Mandelson certainly thinks big. "The European project was originally about war and peace," he told Time (see interview). "Now it's about jobs and growth."

If that's the case, it plays to Mandelson's strengths. His present position gives him a chance to deliver concrete economic benefits to Europeans. As was painfully obvious during last week's summit meeting of the 25 E.U. heads of government in Brussels, Europe's elected leaders are either on the defensive or lame ducks. After his party was trounced in a state poll last month, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has called a snap election for the fall — which he looks likely to lose. In France, President Jacques Chirac is foundering after his country's voters rejected the European Constitution; in Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair recently saw his parliamentary majority sharply reduced; and in recessionary Italy, Premier Silvio Berlusconi is struggling to cling to power. Meanwhile, Commission President José Manuel Barroso is still new in the job.

Small wonder that last week's summit meeting involved little more than pruning the European agenda, and squabbling over what remains. Expansion to include Turkey? Don't hold your breath. Reform the Common Agricultural Policy? Not now. With many still stunned by the French and Dutch rejection of the new constitutional treaty, the leaders agreed to put its ratification on hold. On the other key issue on the agenda — the future budget of the E.U. — the summit ended in acrimony and mutual recrimination. Blair ruled out any change to the j5.2 billion annual rebate Britain receives from Brussels unless spending on agriculture, which accounts for more than 40% of the total E.U. budget, was revised — a proposal Chirac flatly rejected. Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, called the budget debate "pathetic and embarrassing." Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, who chaired the summit, said: "Europe is not in crisis. It is in a profound crisis."