Could EU's global sway be rising as U.S. clout ebbs?
The European Union's 27 member states are deadlocked over a constitution. Enlargement has shifted into low gear. Support for an ever-more unified Europe is declining.
And, yet, in its 50th anniversary year, the union appears to be gaining ever more influence on the international stage — with its voice being heeded everywhere from the Middle East to Africa to Southeast Asia. How can that be?
Analysts say the rise in EU's diplomatic clout is largely rooted with the decline of influence of the United States, which is militarily bogged down in Iraq and distrusted over the Bush administration's perceived unilateralist policies.
The EU is striving to use its policy of "soft power" which aims to slowly, gingerly win allies through aid, trade and diplomacy. Note EU-Digest: If only our EU member state politicians could stop looking inward and realize what great potential the EU could have for them if they would only make European unity and common purpose the cornerstone of their own national policies.
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