Notre Europe's viewpoint | 23/09/2010 

From the Europe 2020 Strategy to the next pluri-annual budget, the European Union is engaged in a race where each decision taken will exert an impact on the final outcome of the trial. The stakes of these negotiations are significant. Indeed, they will determine the capacity of the collective response which alone has the potential to regulate the phenomena that transcend national frameworks.

While the Greek crisis reminds us of the solidarity of fact which now unites Europeans, group cohesion will be crucial. The European Council can count on a confident team captain in the person of Herman Van Rompuy. If the slow progress of the Union disconcerts observers, according to the Permanent President of the European Council, the “European turtle” is nevertheless capable of feats. And the smooth functioning of institutions implemented by the Lisbon Treaty allow for the traversing of crises such as the Euro crisis of last May and the serious institutional crisis experienced by Belgium currently at the head of the Rotating Presidency of the EU without blocking European construction.
“You cannot get common effort without defining common goals”. In the coming months, will Europeans be capable of overcoming national egoisms and to act as Jean Monnet suggested, in first of all defining common objectives? As evidenced by the debate on the CAP, this is necessary, but the process seems to have started off poorly. Lucidity, anticipation, and desire will also be in order to avoid the obstacles that stand in the way and to accomplish a new “feat”.