« Antidemocratic and xenophobic forces of Europe have always been attracted by the European unity dream, the mystic of the imperial Rome»
(FB - 1998)
" Being a citizen is a voluntary act "
(FB - 2009)
"Thinking about the future only makes sense if it is aimed at improving one’s thinking about the present and about the trends at work"
(FB - 1998)
"The European project is not a dream, but a hope. It is rooted in rationality, which is not the case with dreams. We Europeans have seen our dreams end in nightmares too often not to be suspicious."
(FB - 2005)
"The strength of a network is judged at the information level of the weakest link, or more precisely the link furthest from the centre of the network."
(FB - 2004)
"Europe's destiny is escaping the two "Greats" and it will come knocking on the door of the Europeans."
(FB - 1989)
"The history of Europe is a bit like a multifaceted diamond. Everyone sees the same diamond... but no one sees exactly the same facets."
(FB - E-storia project, 2004)
"Let us dare the future as the founding fathers of Europe did"
(FB - "From EU to Euroland", 2001)
"The European citizenship can not be decreed. The European citizen can only be born..."
(FB - 1992)
"Every state is a minority in the EU. In any case, let’s not forget that if all our states went into building the EU it is because they all felt too small to face alone both their future and the rest of the world."
(FB - 2003)
"From a single (EU) Currency to a single (EU) Citizenship. The euro is only an instrument."
(FB - 1997)
"An empire is always providing platforms where conflicts and wars prolife­rate... an empire needs enemies, whilst a Community requires partners."
(FB - 1992)
"Europe’s history has taught us that dreams and nightmares are the two faces of the same coin"
(FB - “Europe is Peace” 2006)
"Everybody wants to have a successful enlargement whereas it is a successful enlarged EU which is important."
(FB - 2002)
"It is clear that the existing national political parties can not serve two masters: national and European."
(FB - IDE, 1989)
"It takes teamwork to make Europe move forward."
(FB - 2005)
"There is nothing like one European. The European is a team of Europeans... the only way we can imagine a European, it is a team of people from different countries, not a single man or woman."
(FB - Enschede (NL) 2012)
"On the horizon with a heaven of freedom and a land of responsibility, this is perhaps the soul of Europe."
(FB - 1992)
"The future challenge for the European project is not about Europe anymore, it is about the Europeans."
(FB - 2005)
"The more Brussels speaks English, the less Brussels understands the Europeans"
(FB - 2004)
"Occupy the Future of Europe!"
("What do YOU want as a future for AEGEE?" Franck Biancheri at the 2012 Agora in Enschede)
"To combine new technologies and democratic principles to succeed in the entry of European integration in the 21st century or e-democracy at the service of Euro-democracy"
(FB - EUSV, 2001)
"In the years 00 of the 21st century, democratization can only take place in the perspective of the democratic election of a European executive that remains to be invented."
(FB - EUSV, 2001)
"We must build the European Community, otherwise Europe will soon be culturally Americanised, politically Finlandised and technologically Japanised"
EGEE I, 1984

Make the Commission a Coordinator, not a Banker ! (Adrian Taylor, 2005)

Adrian Taylor, 05-12-2005 – Rather it is the lack of co-ordination between the donors, as each seems determined to offer the same aid (right now trainings for Iraqi officials), and fails to address other issues.  Again and again the visitors asked “what is your government going to do to improve coordination among donors?”  Again and again, the question was met by a baffled smile, as the host officials muttered something about it “not being our job”, and promptly changed the topic.

 

 

Where is the European Commission?

 

Is it the role of the Commission to spend money on its own development projects? Surely, the Commission is supposed to be the motor for European integration, not the World Bank mark II? If so, money should be a tool to promote common European policies, the identity and visibility of the EU abroad, and the development of beneficiary countries. Hence development aid should be a subset of the Commission’s goal of creating a genuine common foreign policy for the EU. What do we see instead?  Large numbers of staff mired in budget spending, few attempts to co-ordinate Member State development aid as is legally required in the Treaties, and the Commission’s complete absence from CFSP.

 

Member States are not happy either

 

Many Member States development ministries are under severe budgetary pressure, which is forcing them to be selective in projects.  This will diminish their visibility unless they can find extra funds. Furthermore, the more and more aid is untied, and hence the scope for collaboration between donors is rising. Here is a window of opportunity for the Commission to team up with Member States.

 

So why does the Commission not act as a European coordinator ?

 

The Iraqis would love it if all donors co-ordinated their approach.  In the absence of a real global solution (and the pledging conferences are not the solution), if the EU Member States already co-ordinated their activities seriously, that would already have an impact, given that they provide over 50% of all aid granted.  Thus the Commission, acting as a motor for integration, should seek to create a networked EU external aid service – which integrates national and European levels. It should be aiming at the “Europeanisation” of national aid agencies, cutting down on its own role in detailed project execution, whilst leveraging much more its capacity to orient the overall direction of EU Member States’ spending.

 

How to get there ? A radical suggestion:

 

The Commission should stop its own development aid. Instead, it should offer EC funds as a “bonus” to those Member State Ministries and Agencies (specialised in development work or business promotion etc) that work together using an EU banner. “Sine qua non” criteria for such Ministries and Agencies receiving funds could include their:

 

  • systematic incorporation of the EU flag and name in all their logos and all documents (not just those related to a project receiving additional EU funding);
  • opening of all jobs to all EU citizens and the creation of a regular exchange of staff between the different Member State agencies;
  • advance circulation of country strategies and project plans to the Commission and other Member States.

In acting thus, the Commission would fulfil one major Treaty objective which is often ignored: that of encouraging the emergence of a common EU development policy through co-ordination of EU and Member State policies. All too often the Commission interprets this article as meaning that it must tell the Member States everything it does without asking the Member States to share what they are doing.

 

The Commission as a facilitator, fixing priorities

 

This would not be a re-nationalising of Community funds, on the contrary it would be a “Europeanisation” of the Member State bodies. Gradually there would be a considerable incentive for them to adopt similar operating procedures and criteria in choice of projects. Furthermore, by indicatively placing most of the ‘bonus’ funds available in the pot for particular sectors, the Commission would effectively encourage Member States to fix these sectors as their priority. In time, the Commission could then propose to Council common country or regional priorities so as the policy framework is mutually agreed. The Commission would thus set the agenda for all EU aid, using EU logos, rather than being bogged down in spending only the EC part of this funding.

 

Freeing resources in the Commission

 

It would be up to the Member States concerned to design projects/programmes, select consultants, brief them, send them out, receive the initial feasibility report, write terms of reference, call for tenders, judge tender replies, fund the project, monitor the results, and evaluate the outcome: tasks which currently occupy and exasperate so many Commission officials. At a blow, a large number of posts become available for affectation to other tasks (political analysis). The Commission could then concentrate on becoming a political facilitator again, an ally to be won over by the Member States, rather than a rival which is (perceived as) eating up the development budgets of their own agencies.

 

Coordination in the beneficiary countries

 

Given the move of many staff to beneficiary countries, the organic co-operation with Member States should be much easier – officials of all nations are now closer to the needs of the beneficiaries, and hopefully more distant from the imperatives of national capitals. To increase joint work further, the Commission could propose to move its development staff into shared buildings with Member State development agencies, as part of the wider exercise proposed of creating joint EU Embassies or European Houses (as in Liberia).

 

Conclusion

 

Any attempt to combine governing with ‘doing’ on a large scale, paralyses the decision-making capacity. (…) Governments that focus on steering actively shape their communities states and nations. They make more policy decisions. They put more social and economic institutions into motion.” (From “Reinventing Government” by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler Plume books, 1992).

 

At the moment the Commission spends all of its effort in trying to row (spend money). Sometimes it even seems to row in the opposite direction to the Member States. In the meantime, nobody actually seems to be guiding the boat.  The Commission instead needs to take up the role of the helmsman. Resources need to be concentrated on thinking through where we want to go, not on spending a budget line by the end of the year. If not, in this as in other areas, it is certainly not the Council (Member States or Secretariat) that will provide the guidance needed, and the whole European project risks ending up on the rocks.

 

Adrian Taylor, London (United Kingdom), 0 (archives ©FB-Documentation)