1st May 2004: EU enlargement and its future foreign policy.

1st May 2004: EU enlargement and its future foreign policy.

Sabato Della Monica, EU Ambassador to Indonesia, Jakarta

On May 1, the European Union (EU) will take the most daring
step in five decades of European integration, and embrace its
long-lost east and south European neighbors. The process is set
to continue until at least three more countries, now busy
preparing themselves, will have joined. But what does enlargement
already mean today?

Enlargement is the consummation and celebration of peaceful
"regime-change" that seven countries dared more than a decade
ago, from communism to liberal democracies, from centrally
planned to market economies. Thousands of miles of now internal
borders will disappear to create the world largest economic area,
stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Russia, from the polar
circle to the simmering, cicada -- filled heat of Cyprus.
Inevitably enlargement opens questions of how this new giant will
behave, and shoulder its role in what is very much a multi-polar
world order in the making.

Few are giving the EU and its peoples due credit for what they
have jointly achieved in Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania; all countries of the
former Soviet Block that together with Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta
are due to join the EU on May 1. To restructure their economies
and administrations, it has taken 14 years of hard work, some 20
billion euros worth in shared know-how, millions of expert-days
of technical expertise, and the dedication, patience and hope of
millions to persevere in the face of economic, political and
social change, where not everybody is counted among the winners.

Regardless, the question on the minds of many in or outside
the EU is: "The EU's economic weight makes it a world player, by
default, but what about a common foreign policy to manage that
weight. How are things going to play out after May 1, 2004?"

The EU will certainly be the world's largest trading bloc
accounting for over a fifth of all world trade and with a
population of some 450 million, more than the combined
populations of the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia and New
Zealand. The EU is already the largest provider of aid and
technical expertise to developing nations. But it cannot be
denied that in the popular view of the global pecking order, the
EU plays only second fiddle at best. This makes the EU look like
an odd type of superpower, with lots of "butter", but when push
comes to shove, little "muscle".

The Treaty on a European Constitution of 2004 marks the other
major, if less visible, milestone in the EU's development. Barely
three weeks ago it seemed relegated to the back burner for
months, if not years to come. Following the terrorist atrocities
of Madrid it now is on track for adoption by June 2004. The
European Constitution overhauls the complex set of European
Institutions alright: After all, what was good for six founding
members in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and received already
a "make-over" when the EU reached 15 in the 1990s, seemed like a
recipe for gridlock as the Union reaches 25.

The EU Constitution sets precedents in international and
constitutional law: For the first time in the EU's 54-year
history, it endows rights and obligations to EU citizens as
citizens of the European Union, over and above their rights as
citizens of their individual nation states. The EU Constitution
sets about to address, albeit gradually, what is often lamented
as the democratic deficit within the EU. It takes decision making
out of Brussels backrooms and sets transparent rules.

Under the Constitution more and more issues will be put to
"double majority" voting, whereby the simple majority of
countries is counter-balanced by weight of population. And the
Constitution provides guarantees against the much dreaded
European "super state", by enshrining the principle of
subsidiarity, or more simply: Decisions are made at the level
closest to those affected by such decision.

The Constitution merges the posts of the EU's current policy
chief, Javier Solana, and that of External Relations Commissioner
Chris Patten which will make it easier for Europe to talk with
one voice. A central aspect of the EU's foreign policy is the
approach summarized under the adage: "Ring of Friends".

Driven by the EU's "soft power" expertise of dialogue, patient
negotiation, linking partners, competitors and sometimes
adversaries through agreements, the "ring of friends" approach is
already reality: In the Mediterranean "circle" North African
nations are linked to the EU through association agreements that
provides them access for their exports, lowered duties, and
generally assist the integration of their economies. Third
generation agreements are on the table with Syria and Iran.

The "circle" is about to open to the Caucasus and embraces
most of the new independent, formerly soviet states, and also
Russia, which whom the EU will share a common border as of 1st of
May. The message, backed up by hard economic facts is: The new
frontiers of an enlarged European Union are not the frontiers of
a new empire, or "fortress Europe" as it is often called. The new
frontiers are opportunities of osmosis between The EU and its
friends.

While the "Ring of Friends" is a realistic assessment not only
to the EU's geographical neighbors, but also to Southeast Asia.
The formal relationship goes back to 1980 when ASEAN and the then
European Community entered into a cooperation agreement.
Economic relations have since blossomed and political interaction
surged. The partnership helped Asia overcome the crippling crisis
of 1997 when the EU kept its markets wide open, allowing the
former tiger economies to export their way out of the crisis.

Last July the EU's executive body, European Commission,
launched a "New Partnership" with the countries of Southeast
Asia, on the back of the 2002 Asia strategy. This "New
Partnership" includes a regional action plan on trade, the
"Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative" or TREATI, which opens
the frontiers to closer cooperation on a wide range of issues,
including trade-related regulatory matters and investment. It
also encompasses cooperation on the global challenges such as
environmental degradation, disease and terrorism,

Since 2002 until 2006 the EU's cooperation with Indonesia
follows an agreed strategic guideline centered on the
consolidation of democracy, good governance, sustainable
development in the economy, the social spheres, including
education, health and the environment.

The world political scenario may still offer a threatening set
of scenarios. But a new player is emerging, the EU, which augurs
well for stability, predictability, and balance, not just in
Europe but also in relations with its neighbors and partners, may
they be regions or individual countries. Seen in this
perspective, May 1, 2004 is reason to pay tribute to achievements
of a visionary political ideal more than fifty years in the
making, its impact already felt much beyond its borders.