EUROPEAN DIARY:A dithering response to changes in Egypt shows EU foreign policy pulled in disparate directions, writes ARTHUR BEESLEY
CATHERINE ASHTON’S grandiose job title is so long it would hardly fit on a business card. Europe’s foreign policy chief is known formally as “the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission”.
Certain observers in the official world say the title smacks of a bit-part in a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, something quite different to the grand ambition vested in her post. The position was established to give greater clout and coherence to Europe’s voice in global affairs. The EU’s disarray over the revolt in Egypt suggests there is far to travel before that objective is realised.
Ashton was outgunned more than once as the uprising gathered pace. Far from setting the tone of the European response, her public interventions often seemed to follow those from the leaders of France, Britain and Germany. With EU council president Herman Van Rompuy and other leaders weighing in as well, Europe did not speak with one voice on Egypt but with many.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Socialist group leader Martin Schultz claimed in the European Parliament that the cacophony brought to mind Statler and Waldorf in the Muppet Show: a pair of old grouches in a theatre balcony dimly appraising the stage. "They comment on everything but as to whether they are taken seriously is a question to be asked . . . Everyone has their say but it doesn't seem to be of much use." Ouch. Schultz is prone to strident rhetoric but his scorn finds echoes around Brussels and in other capitals. Thus does revolution in Cairo lead inexorably to yet another bout of European introspection over the EU's failure to assert itself in the global arena.
Two interlinking forces are at work here: lingering dissatisfaction with Ashton’s role as figurehead; and confusion in Europe’s policy on the Arab world and the Middle East due to events in Tunisia and Egypt.
Ashton is no diplomatic superstar, never was, probably never will be and was not appointed to bring turbo-charged verve to the role. She’s not that kind of person. Put her up beside Hillary Clinton and the contrast is clear. Yet EU leaders knew exactly what they were getting when they appointed her: a politician of modest experience, with little professional background in diplomacy.
Although she has abundant personal charm, that is no substitute for the authority that comes with mileage, vim and muscle. The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt stand as the biggest external upheaval to hit the European diplomatic world since her appointment in late 2009. These events are unfolding in the EU’s back yard, they are moving very rapidly and they carry unpredictable potential for still more disruption in the north African rim and the Middle East.
As such, there is no latitude for any missteps from Brussels. Ashton has quietly coaxed and cajoled for many months over the Middle East, Iran, Kosovo and other tricky issues, but this is her greatest test yet. That the likes of Sarkozy, Cameron and Merkel have been out in front – and consistently so – says more than is necessary about her place in the pecking order.
Yet this is hardly a surprise. Big powers like to cast their beam wide, even if they fudged until the last the delicate question of whether Mubarak should go.
Their ambiguity mirrored the halting, hesitant response from Washington, to which Europe conferred the lead role early on in the uprising.
This reflects brute political reality, American sponsorship of the Mubarak regime being for decades a potent feature of the regional dynamic.
No matter who occupies Ashton’s seat, the leaders of large countries still like to present themselves as players of rank in the international scene.
It was ever thus and will be for a long time to come, despite the creation of Europe’s nascent diplomatic corps. Established less than two months ago, the European External Action Service is held to be at the same stage now in its evolution as the commission was decades ago.
That does not mean, however, that it can avoid dealing with the here and now. Still, some senior Europeans go so far as to argue that the many-voiced response matters not a jot from the Egyptian perspective.
In such accounts, the outwork of the uprising will be ultimately determined within Egypt.
But the issues at stake for Europe are far bigger than that.
For example, no one knows who will lead Egypt in the coming months and whether its crucial peace accord with Israel might be threatened.
Nearer home, Italy faces an exodus of desperate Tunisians arriving by boat across the Mediterranean. This is to say nothing about the clear potential for strife in Algeria, Libya and a host of other autocratic countries.
When Ashton was appointed, many said her job was an “impossible” one.
It’s even more so now.