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By Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy
In 2004 as I took up office as the newly-appointed Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, I was convinced of the need for foreign policy to change to meet the challenges the European Union was facing. I knew that unlike in the past when the need was to look inward - reconstructing the fabric of our countries, rebuilding democracy and securing lasting peace and prosperity on our continent, we now needed to look outward.
Five years on, that need is more palpable than ever - challenges like climate change, energy security, the global economic crisis, new forms of international conflict and the sustainable use of the world’s increasingly scarce resources demand a global Europe.
These issues are simply too big for a nation state to handle alone - which is why the EU’s most pressing concern must be organising itself to best represent and protect its citizens interests around the world. We need a European Union which thinks and acts globally, which speaks with one voice and pools its strengths, and which pursues a truly common external policy.
I hope that the Lisbon Treaty will soon receive the necessary ratifications to come into effect, since that will improve our institutional set-up and make it easier for us to be more coherent and effective. But above all our leaders need to find the political will to match their citizens’ expressed desire for a better, stronger EU in key areas, especially foreign and security policy. That’s the only way we can shape globalisation to our advantage.
This will also require new types of partnership – with individual countries, with regional blocs and with international institutions. Throughout my time in office I have been guided by the firm belief that it is through engagement, rather than isolation, that we produce results. It is only by so doing that we will be able to deliver the basic human security to which all human beings are entitled. By which I mean freedom from want and freedom from fear – basic human dignity.
Looking to the future I believe the EU must continue to stand firm on the basic human values and principles which define its very nature. And it must further develop its network of partnerships with countries, regions and international institutions, to deliver results on the issues we face.
Three issues typify the way in which we must work to manage globalisation in the future.
First, the response to the global economic and financial crisis. The EU has been the driving force behind the G20 process: it plays a central role in supporting the global economy and designing new economic ground rules, not least for the international financial markets, whose uncontrolled growth has been a factor in the current crisis.
This crisis is also an opportunity. I see the G20, which deliberately includes key emerging economies, as the nucleus of a new world economic order. I do not mean this in the sense of a new institutional order but rather as the foundation of a new basic economic consensus, reflecting the large-scale interweaving of our economies and the resulting common interests.
Second, the dual challenge of climate change and energy security. We are in the middle of preparations for the Copenhagen climate summit at the end of the year. As External Relations Commissioner, I have placed climate change high on the EU's agenda in its relations with other countries, and it must stay there.
For despite Europe’s own ambitious climate targets, we cannot stop global warming on our own. Which is why I contributed to setting up a green diplomacy network to raise awareness – above all in the biggest CO2 emitters, chief among them being the USA, India and China and to offer emerging countries such as China and India alternatives to current forms of energy production.
At the same time, however, Europe's energy supply must be secured. We already import 54% of our energy from outside the EU. By 2030 imports will account for 93% of our oil and 84% of our gas.
I have spent much of my time in recent years helping to develop an EU external energy policy. Diversifying energy sources and transit routes is a key strategic project and mid-July’s signature of an intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco-pipeline was highly significant.
But more needs to be done, and I would urge Europe’s leaders not to delay in putting in place a genuine common EU energy policy.
Third, exporting stability beyond our borders. "Failed states" and entrenched regional conflicts which export insecurity are a serious security threat to the EU.
In recent years we have found a thoroughly effective answer, notably in the form of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which we have recently beefed up with the Mediterranean Union and the Eastern partnership.
The ENP which we can rightfully call a success story in our foreign policy epitomises "smart" EU foreign policy-making, involving the right blend of soft and hard power. It combines democratisation assistance and protection for human rights, economic assistance and trade liberalisation, humanitarian aid and security missions and many other instruments, ranging from energy to migration policy.
Ultimately, this boils down to a policy of building trust - between us and our partners, but also between those partners themselves. There have been ample demonstrations of the direct impact a lack of trust has on Europe’s security and prosperity, from the Middle East to the Russian-Ukrainian gas crises.
This work is also important further afield, particularly in parts of the world where security is at a premium. Two issues are decisive in creating trust; first reinforcing human rights, and in particular women's rights, and second, education.
The world cannot afford to let half its potential go untapped. The marginalisation of women goes hand in hand with instability and poverty.
This is why I am lobbying for a conference in 2010 on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 concerning the protection of women in conflict and post conflict situations. It is also why, as Commissioner, I have striven to make a contribution through targeted aid programmes and grants, not least in neighbouring countries to the south of the EU.
Good and universally accessible education must continue to be an important focus of the EU’s activities abroad. Education is key to creating political and economic opportunities, self determination, stability and countering radicalism and extremism.
We currently spend €600 million a year on an enormous number of education projects and our Erasmus Mundus programme recently awarded 10,000 new grants for the 2009/10 academic year. I hope the EU will continue this level of support in the future as a highly effective way of achieving our objectives.
Which is, after all, what it is all about. The European Union must deliver results for its citizens, and they must be able to see the added value membership brings. Above all that requires political will on the part of its member states, confronting difficult decisions and making tough choices. Our goal for the future is clear: a streamlined and effective union offering us protection and assurance in a world full of risk while being an essential strategic partner for other actors in facing the challenges of this new globalized world.
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The fourteenth edition of Europe's World is out. We feel it's fair to say that few if any publications in the field of international relations and policy debate have grown as fast or widened their scope so remarkably as Europe's World. Table of contents of Issue 14. The search is on for 'global governance' solutions to the world's economic and political problems. The trouble is, of course, that there's not much agreement across Europe or around the world on what sort of policy instruments, institutions and rules would open the way to a fairer international system serving the needs of North and South, East and West while avoiding the pitfalls that led to the global crisis. Read more |
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