Should auld acquaintance be forgot?
pete quentin, 3 January 2008
New Year celebrations; Auld lang syne, people uniting, setting off fireworks…
Slovenia takes on the EU Presidency for the first half of 2008 and New Year revelries look set to continue, with the diminutive state pledging to encourage supra-national unity to “strengthen the European perspective” and “promote dialogue between cultures, beliefs and traditions”, writes Claire Daley.
Unifying priorities set out by the Slovenian Presidency include making a good start to ratification of that Lisbon Treaty, ensuring this is achieved before the European Parliament elections in 2009. Such enthusiasm will surely have generated a greater new year’s day headache for Gordon Brown than any “right guid-willie waught”, especially as he had probably hoped that his (somewhat hesitant) signing of the treaty had temporarily swept the issue under a bureaucratic carpet, rendering it… “never brought to mind”.
Unfortunately for Brown, Slovenian European affairs secretary, Janez Lenarcic, has insisted that ‘for the sake of the European project we must not fail again’, indicating that Brown will be forced to engage in the great referendum debate sooner than he might have hoped. (Wait a second Lenarcic: ‘we must not fail again’… suggesting we must not repeat the same event… as in the same treaty…as in the constitution in disguise…don’t let Gordon Brown hear you say that!) In any case, the fireworks of this great referendum debate look set to be just as spectacular as this year’s London display – a similarly costly government display to dazzle the public, generating a lot of hot air and smoke.
Furthermore the Slovenian Presidency has declared 2008 the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, naming Liverpool the European Capital of Culture for 2008 (alongside Stavanger in Norway). A 10m euro budget has been ear-marked to ‘popularise the value of intercultural dialogue among the European public at large’, heralding multi-culturalism with a ‘Together in Diversity’ slogan. Ambassadors for the programme include Slovenian conceptual artist Marko Peljhan, Turkish piano player Fazil Say, and even the current Eurovision Song Contest Champion, Sebian Marija Šerifović.
The notion of working ‘together in diversity’ will be rigorously tested early in the year when the EU attempts to negotiate the terms for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. As a former Soviet Bloc country Slovenia is well placed to acknowledge that the ‘stability of the Western Balkans is of utmost importance for security and prosperity of the entire Union’. Such statements suggest Slovenia’s will be a highly ambitious presidency, with a view to punching above its diplomatic weight. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has even gone so far as to assert that ‘strengthening the European perspective of the Western Balkans’ will enable the Kosovo issue to be resolved by June 2008.
In the name of diversity, 2008 might be expected to be a year for moves toward further EU expansion. However, with France due to take over the EU presidency in July, and in the meantime providing advice and diplomatic support for the 170-strong Slovenian delegation in Brussels, Sarkozy is set to dictate the EU agenda throughout 2008. Turkish hopes of EU membership require a whole lot more than just “a drop of kindness yet”.
2008 is likely to see more fireworks yet, not least with President Sarkozy already causing a stir amongst European politicians with recent calls to align EU foreign policy more closely with America and the opening of negotiations with General Gadaffi in Libya (who many believe to still be enthusiastically sponsoring terrorism). Perhaps in the spirit of the New Year someone would like to remind Sarkozy that some “auld acquaintances” really are best forgot.