A shaky start for the European super-state?
Andy Bell, Political Editor
I find it hard to take seriously the idea of Herman van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton driving on the grand project of the European super-state.
Surely their appointment shows that they will be institutional figureheads rather than movers and shakers, and that the real power will remain with national governments.
If Baroness Ashton gets that call in the middle of the night from Hillary Clinton, surely she will have to say, hang on, I have to find out what the real powers think, I’ll get back to you.
The danger with a President or even a Foreign minister Blair would have been taking the call and saying – this is what we’re going to do, I’ll go and tell the others what I’ve decided.
As usual with the EU there is institutional creep. The new President will chair meetings of the heads of government and that does bring influence. Baroness Ashton does have a kind of diplomatic service approaching seven thousand strong. But she is still not going to be making the decisions. That will still be the job of governments.
These two posts are really hang-overs from the grand project conceived almost a decade ago when the dream was a United States of Europe with its own Constitution.
Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the former French President running the project then, openly drew comparisons with America’s Founding Fathers creating the USA.
For those who worry about a federal Europe, the creation of these jobs is a step in the wrong direction – but the people chosen to fill them indicate there’s not much enthusiasm at the top for the journey.
A shaky start for the Euro...
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