The World Seen From Rome
The European Union is a remarkable achievement. It is the most developed model of shared sovereignty to materialize since the emergence of the nation state. As such the EU is inevitably going to create hesitation among some and indeed it is also inevitable that mistakes in one direction or the other will be made along the process of European integration. The project of European integration is a complex and an on-going project on which people can legitimately take different positions. Whereas the majority of Europeans, according to the European Values Study, applaud Europe's integration, there are others who strongly oppose it and as the "Atlas of European Values "notes: "Very few experience really warm feelings when seeing the [EU's] blue flag fluttering."
Some may want to move more quickly to greater integration. It is not going to be easy to get unanimity among 27 countries and there will be on-going pressure for more majority voting. I have enquired however from friends in Geneva on how the day-to-day EU coordination is working in the International Organizations there since enlargement. From various sides I get the impression that the process has not become significantly more difficult. But the EU is not a Super State. The mention of any even distant dream of European Union style "single statehood" or the showing off of the blue flag or other trappings of statehood which the EU at times adopts sends quivers down some people's spines. But I think that the time is a very long way off when Europeans will triumphantly come to international organizations proudly announcing that their integration has come so far that they have renounced the 27 individual votes of the member states in favor of one single EU one!
Europe has responsibilities worldwide. It is not the task of the European Union to become a "mini superpower," but to be maxi and super in its spirit of solidarity. There is however a growing tendency of the EU in international negotiations to adopt some of the trappings of a superpower, especially in trade negotiations. Once again the EU positions in trade negotiations, especially in agriculture and textiles and intellectual property rights, are very often subject of pressure from national governments and particular national interest groups. The Union is often held back from more enlightened positions by national interest.
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