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| Europe |
| A single European seat on EU bodies? |
| 2006-10-06 |
| The UN's deputy secretary general Mark Malloch Brown has told the EU Observer that in future, the European Commission is likely to take a single European seat on EU bodies. The end result of this, of course, would be France and Britain surrendering their permanent seats on the UN Security Council in favour of a single EU seat. Fat chance of either Paris or London considering that in the near future, unless the UN set-up changes radically. France periodically dangles the prospect of an EU seat before Europe's federalists, but is too addicted to the posturing opportunities the seat brings to give it up. Besides, any French surrender of its Security Council seat would come so loaded with caveats that even the most swivel-eyed federalist would hesitate to take the offer: Like numerous other EU bodies, Paris would demand that the seat was occupied by a Frenchman for a decade or two at least. Britain, for its part, claims to treasure its independence from Brussels and would come under additional pressure from the Americans to hang on to the only permanent seat that comes complete with a near-guaranteed vote for US policy. An EU-wide seat, particularly one under the baleful influence of the Quai d'Orsay, would be a trickier proposal. Nevertheless, it's worth taking Malloch Brown's vision seriously. The EU Commission already has an office in New York and is playing a role in some UN Agencies. Malloch Brown (a Brit) notes that some member states are suspicious of the idea of another layer of institutions between national governments and the international community, but says he hopes the change to EU control comes about "as quickly as possible." He added that the Security Council needed to be reformed to reflect the growth in status of developing countries such as Brazil, India and some African nations. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #3 Ah, so the UN shoves the first of many chisels into the farce that is the EU and starts hammering... "So, it begins...," |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2006-10-06 22:34 |
| #2 But don't worry EU member states, you won't lose your individual identities under a One Europe Government. |
| Posted by: Justip Olmera5546 2006-10-06 12:23 |
| #1 No never! The tranzi coup process will start to face "resistance" if this happens. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-10-06 06:06 |