Minister Paavo Väyrynen: The EU needs a global strategy
The most fundamental change is the creation of the post of the Union’s “Foreign Minister”, which combines the functions of the High Representative and the Vice-President of the Commission responsible for external affairs. An agreement has been reached about the External Action Service under the authority of the High Representative, but it is still unclear how it will be implemented.
Unresolved issues include, for example, the question of how to create consistency between the different areas of external relations and the Union’s other policies in accordance with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty.
There is a risk of subordinating development policy and also trade policy toanarrowlyunderstood foreign and security policy. It appears that there are problems also in reconciling the external policies with the other policies of the Union. An example of this is the EU2020 Strategy, where the external dimension is only briefly mentioned.
The Union’s external relations policy will be shaped by different views about the EU’s future development and tasks.
The EU has often been described as an economic giant but a political dwarf. Based on this analogy, efforts have been made to develop the EU into a political and even a military world power to challenge the US also in that respect.
However, the most noteworthy way to increase the EU’s influence is to assert its action primarily in areas where it is already a strong actor, such as global trade, development and environmental policies. In these areas, the external relations policy is in many ways linked with the Union’s internal policies, including agricultural, environmental and energy policies. Global solutions will have an impact on our economic environment, industrial competitiveness and employment.
These elements can serve as a basis for a consistent policy provided for in the Lisbon Treaty. This policy could be used effectively to defend our common interests and to promote our common values both in the external and in the internal policies of the Union.
By emphasizing its role in economic and development policies, the Union will reach a strong global position, which will benefit both the Member States and citizens. The economic giant will evolve into a political power in the vanguard of global development.
The EU development ministers met under the chairmanship of High Representative Catherine Ashton in Luxembourg on Monday 14 June to discuss the effectiveness and coherence of development policies.
In my own address I said that real policy coherence for development can be attained only by means of creating a common global strategy for the Union. This would link other policy areas, such as trade policy, climate and environmental policies, financial policies, and foreign and security policy with development policies.
HR Ashton welcomed my proposal and said that she intends to discuss the topic in the EU Development Minister’s informal meeting in October.
My idea is that the global strategy would be based on the comprehensive approach to development policy created in the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992. It would provide a framework for all external relations action of the EU. Through the strategy, the EU would promote ecologically, economically and socially sustainable development all over the world. The global strategy and the internal sustainable development policies of the EU would be mutually supportive.
We have to create a better synergy between different external policies and between external and internal policies of the Union. The EU needs the global strategy to be able to face the future challenges and ensure our global competitiveness in the increasingly demanding environment.
There are a number of similarities in the present situation of the European Union and the United States. We already found each other in development policy in the EU-US Summit in November, where an agreement was made on transatlantic cooperation to eradicate poverty and to promote sustainable development.
Besides this development policy cooperation, launched on Finland’s initiative, a trade policy dialogue is emerging. The Transatlantic Economic Council between the EU and the USA will also address global trade policy issues. Finland has been one of the initiators also in this matter.
The US is also preparing a global strategy. Their future external relations will be based on three D’s. Defence and diplomacy will be complemented by development as an equal policy area.
Formulating the EU’s own global strategy would give us excellent possibilities for cooperation with our most important strategic partner, the USA. This cooperation would in turn open up opportunities for effectively promoting our values and defending our interests in the increasingly challenging global environment.
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen
The article was published in newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on June 17th, 2010.