Guardian: EU - A bigger achievement than it seems

Guardian

A bigger achievement than it seems

The Brussels EU budget summit may not have been anyone's triumph - but that does not mean that it was a disaster - and there is a good argument for seeing it as a solid success for the 25-nation Europe as a whole. In any case, a British victory of the traditional us-against-them kind was not on offer, not least because the massive issue of the common agricultural policy was not on the table, but also because when 25 heads of government are gathered in search of a solution which any one of them can veto, compromise must ultimately prevail. And compromise was what the 25, under the British presidency, finally produced. Given the challenges to old thinking that have been required in Europe this year - absorbing enlargement, continued economic stagnation, a revolt against the EU constitution and the Turkish question, among others - last week's summit may seem in time to be a more substantial achievement than it appears today. The 25 have made the system work. Don't knock that. What was the big story from Brussels? Some critics will argue that the big challenge was to keep the size of the EU budget under control. If so, that was achieved - the percentage of European GDP that will go on the EU budget in the years 2007-13 is lower in the Europe of 25 than it was in the Europe of 15 a decade ago. Others, seeing the matter solely from a "what does it mean for me?" perspective, will focus exclusively on the British rebate. If so, they should be satisfied too, since the rebate will rise from an average £3.6bn a year over the past six years to an average £4.3bn over the next six. Or perhaps the big issue was the CAP? In that case, Brussels produced a commitment to a review starting in 2008, five years earlier than previously agreed, and a review on which the new German government is apparently enthusiastic, another change from the old past.