Global Europe

Three cheers for Obama. By deciding to skip the planned EU-US summit in Madrid in May he gave a clear message to Europe – call me when you have something to say but let’s not waste time on ritual meetings that have no substance.

There are many more summits and political dialogue meetings that could be scrapped. The biggest nonsense surrounds the G7/8 pantomime. For over three decades a select group of presidents and prime ministers have met each July in increasingly remote venues to ensure they have no contact with the public. Last weekend, the Canadian government forced G8 ministers to fly to one of the remotest parts of Canada to demonstrate the vibrancy of the local culture. And what has the G8 achieved during the past thirty years? Almost nothing of substance. This vast circus has generated a proliferation of official meetings causing immense damage to the atmosphere (CO2 emissions) and the environment (thousands of trees must have been felled for the lengthy and boring communiqués). It is a mystery why any self-respecting journalist bothers to attend such farcical events.  

The EU not only takes part in these meetings (as well as the G20) but is involved in a host of other regular summits, both bilateral and multilateral. This October’s ASEM summit in Brussels will see over 50 countries around the table for a ‘cosy chat’. With some countries, like Russia, the EU is committed to two summits a year. But it is obvious that the leaders struggle to find suitable topics to discuss.

The format of these bilaterals is also ridiculous. Hitherto, on the EU side, the Presidency would speak first, then the future Presidency, then the Council (Solana) and finally the Commission. Sometimes you would have all 27 leaders involved – a format that President Obama did not find especially appealing in Prague last year. Often the biggest EU disputes are over who is going to speak on what subject and who is going to sit where. Vanity and prestige trump substance every time. This is unlikely to change under the new Lisbon arrangements.

So where do we go from here? Some argue that regular summits concentrate the minds of leaders and their staffs. But there are so many meetings these days that there is never sufficient time for a proper discussion. Two changes need to be made. First, summits should only be held when there is a need for one. This would also stop sudden cancellations as the Chinese did a year ago. Second, there should be far more use of video technology. Why waste time and money flying around the world for political dialogue meetings when they could be done far more effectively, and cheaply, by using modern technology? Obama is the first US President to use a Blackberry. Let’s hope that he has Herman Van Rompuy’s e-mail address.