By Beatrice Jeschek

Europe’s potential as a magic flying carpet of member-states fails to take coordinated height. In a world shaped by the US and China, this means loosing ground for effective global policy.

Europe was scarred by Copenhagen. It doesn’t take an expert with a magnifying glass to see the wound caused by the COP15 last December in the Danish capital. Negotiations failed dramatically with the two global giants – the US and China – fading completely alongside the possibilities of acting quickly in the face of the challenge (as were they both buried six feet under the same earth they are trying to save).

The European Union found itself in a circle of global friends, but equality needed to be earned and bought, despite the common good of the end result. This doesn’t just hurt Europe’s pride.

When important content drowns in the Pacific, it hurts effective global policy.

Europe clearly didn’t manage to apply its potential power. One might identify the problem as a lack of unification from within.

How carefully have we tried to satisfy the Euro-sceptics with the tasty themes of unification? One spoonful of political integration here, one spoonful of open borders there. Then, another one of a single currency - only to see Britain, and the “no-Euro-in-my-wallet” countries Sweden and Denmark spit it out and instead dig their claws even deeper into their well-known bank notes of the Queen.

In 2010, the same sceptics might still be sitting on their high throne, only now they are being fed well with the Lisbon Treaty, arduously put together by its 27 member states. Today they might look at Brussels, and actually smile. Imagine the hesitant smile of a true sceptic who now admits to at least some success in developing a shared community.

Today, it cannot be denied, the European Union appears to be a beautifully knotted rag rug of states.

And Europe is smart. “Erasmus” is a line in the CVs of many European students (180.000 each year) that covers memories of a blessed dive into a neighbour country’s cultural heart. Obviously, to feel European will last longer than just one semester. This way, the EU is breeding loyal future leaders who will be close to the idea of one Europe, ready to act confidently on the international stage. In their “Erasmus Mundus Masters” scheme, the EU created a masterpiece of tight relations between Europe and the world. Academically, this is the best unification thinkable.

Still, this political harmony seems to be unable to leave the differences behind. If the EU is to fully realise its power and fly with the Chinese dragon and Obama’s charm it needs to speak in one voice.

In a global world shaped by the US and China, the Lisbon Treaty wasn’t really the big bang for the evolution of Europe’s power after all. Right now, the question of unification is hidden behind the greater issues of economic stability and efficacy, with the recent “Greek tragedy” within the currency community itself at its core. Here, a Greece in debt crisis stands out as the “runner in the carpet” of Merkel, Barroso & Co.

What is the best way out of a state bankruptcy without infecting the spirit of the Euro-zone?

The export mastering Germans, who figuratively hide their filled savings stocking in the last corner of the little garden shanty, will need to play the maharajah with a warning finger held up right in the face of Greece, which on the contrary is lavishing money as if there was no tomorrow.

Their debt crisis has even been a hide-and-seek, unsuitable for a full-grown state: “Give me a loan besieged with interest, dear shark, but don’t tell my European family”.

In a simplified way, the “Greek tragedy” places Europe in the burning spotlight of the global economical network. Europe’s and the world’s best interest do actually converge at some point, because decisions made in terms of the international sphere also safeguard the continent’s peace, economy and democracy. Backlashes like the global financial crisis or the failure of the world climate conference seek out and affect the most innocent pieces of the earth like Africa.

No one can hide anymore, not even the Euro-sceptics as mentioned above on their high throne of “See, we didn’t want this in the first place”. It’s too late. Now, in facing risks all together the opportunities are lying right in front of the European Union.

Following reactions to these risks, one might ask wholeheartedly the question if there is a neat solution that works like magical dust for 27 single egos (some bigger than the others) in order to turn them into a unified flying carpet.

How can Europe influence global policy like the US and China do?

It can’t be that Obama rails against China’s national monetary policy, while the Chinese blaspheme about the US Dollar (which weakens their Yuang) in order to export cheerfully, and Europe just stares at both, confused.

Europe (with an impressive GPD of 18 billion US Dollar which is ¼ more than the US and three times more than China) has to take a united stand in world policy. This could be achieved through a solid combination of both member state and EU-institution influence in order to keep the European carpet together – it cannot be done through biases of centralism or nationalism.

The European nations can then focus on the goals as a unified force: To become a global leader for development strategies, including the favourite role as the “good cop” in climate change policy. At the WTO meeting in Geneva, the G20 summit in Toronto, the UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals, as well as at the next UN climate conference in Mexico, Europe can prove this year that the Lisbon Treaty has been the right start to shape global policy after all.

“Let the carpet fly” could be a catchy slogan to promote the idea of political integrity within the colourful “rag rug” of the European Union. Print it on stickers, spray the walls with it. Awake Europe’s citizens of their numbness, and tell them how sweet it could be to give global politics a pinch of the
European spirit.

This article was written 29/03/2010 for the Nico Colchester Journalism Fellowship.