Europe - the world's next superpower
Press political editor Colin Espiner travelled to Brussels, Berlin and Warsaw and filed this report on the ambitions of the ever-expanding European Union.
Twenty-five flags snap in the breeze outside the imposing headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels. But they are not the national flags of the 25 members of the European Union. Each features the blue background and yellow stars of a standard that has taken on the status of a national emblem in its own right. The EU flag is a symbol of unity that is becoming increasingly important to Europeans divided by war, politics, language, culture and philosophy.With 450 million people, the EU is now the world's largest single market, surpassing even the United States. It is also the world's largest aid donor. It is involved in peace- keeping missions from the Middle East to the Solomon Islands. It monitors elections in Africa, referenda in Tokelau, and nuclear policy in Iran. It has its own battlegroup, capable of mobilisation within a 6000km radius of Brussels within 10 days. There are those in Brussels who believe that this is just the beginning of what the EU can achieve. Like a latter-day United States of Europe, they consider the EU can become the world's dominant geopolitical force, spreading its particular European brand of democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and multilateral institutions to the farthest corners of the globe.
While Europe debates its future as a global player, there is consensus on at least one thing – nothing will happen unless the EU can speak with one voice on political and security issues, as well as trade. Elmar Brok, the chairman of the EU Parliament's foreign-affairs committee, says the EU will not be taken seriously as a global player until it gets a constitution and a foreign minister with a mandate to represent it on the world stage. "As Henry Kissinger once said, `where is Europe's telephone number?' This is still true."
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