AN AMAZE-ING MEETING

by MONITOR
THE mid-term summit of Britain's presidency of the European Union takes place next week at Hampton Court Palace. There was a delightful political cartoon in one of the UK newspapers yesterday. It showed Tony Blair, dressed in Henry VIII costume, welcoming the visiting presidents and prime ministers and ushering them into the Hampton Court maze. It is said that Britain wanted to forgo the privilege of hosting this summit since Mr Blair thinks that very little is achieved at these mid-term gatherings. However, he was persuaded otherwise although he has succeeded in limiting it to a single day, hardly long enough for the 25 EU leaders to have any meaningful discussion on the main issues of the moment. At their last meeting in June the leaders left unresolved the bitter disagreements between Britain and France on the EU's next budget and on Britain's “rebate” and France's Common Agricultural Policy payments. Mr Blair promised action on the reform agenda but was almost immediately hit by the security problems arising from the London bombings which, except for his holiday and the Labour Party Conference, have been his priority ever since. There is a curiosity about next week's meeting. One of the principal EU countries will be represented by a man who, strictly speaking, is out of office and power. This is Gerhard Schroder who, because the administration of the newly elected Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has not yet been approved by the German parliament, is still officially the German leader. This might not matter greatly if Herr Schroder were not giving the impression that he is still in charge. On one major issue, negotiations with Turkey on EU membership, Merkel and Schroder do not see eye to eye; she rather favours the “privileged partner” status for Turkey, which Istanbul has rejected, while he is committed to granting full membership. Earlier this week Chancellor-elect Merkel had to ask former-Chancellor Schroder to keep in step with her policies, which he pointedly refused to do. It doesn't seem the best way of running a country, even if it is only for an interim period. Perhaps that cartoon had a good idea. Let the 25 leaders busy themselves getting out of a real maze instead of expecting them to find a way out of the maze of European Union politics.