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E.U. summit focus on defence, foreign issues

By Batuk Gathani

Brussels Oct. 18. The two-day summit of the 25 European Union leaders was held ostensibly to finalise details of the proposed Constitution.

The summit also gave a glimpse of the leaders' yearning for a pan-European superpower status.

Apart from the disagreements with the U.S. over a proposed defence policy, the summit made "steady progress" on major issues.

The highlight of the summit was the agreement in principle to allocate euro 220,000 millions to key infrastructure, research and development projects to spur economic growth and create more jobs. Over 10 million European workers are unemployed or under-employed and are living on doles. The major rail networks in Germany, France and Italy will join hands to launch an express network, which may rank among the fastest and most modern rail network in the world.

The enlarged E.U. with some 450 million citizens and backed by a $7 to 8 trillion economy is now the second largest world economy.

The E.U., after the U.S., is also emerging as an advanced scientific and innovative power with a modest global military muscle.

The E.U. is about to be united by a constitution and common euro and pan-European values and disciplines without affecting the sovereignty of member states.

The Europeans are also in the process of structuring defence and foreign policy strategies as the leaders try to define the parametres of its place in the world.

The leaders are also grappling with the problem of matching the E.U.'s formidable economic muscle with a global foreign policy clout.

But the E.U. leaders are yet to resolve crucial domestic issues. On the demographic front, the E.U. is fast `greying' with declining birth rates and people living longer with the prospects of more pensioners than taxpayers within the next few decades. Then there are the emotive and divisive issues of immigration and the micro-economic management related to problems of bloated welfare states. The leaders are also considering how the E.U. can play a bigger role in the world.

The European Constitutional Treaty has yet to be ratified by individual Parliaments. It may usher in bigger changes in foreign and defence policies.

It is proposed that there should be a new elected president of the European Council of Ministers, with a five-year term of office.

However, smaller states fear that the agenda and function of such a president could be dominated by the big five — Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain.

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