International Policy Analysis Unit ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Working Group on European Integration March 2003 The Iraq Challenge: How to Make a Common Foreign Policy Work for an Emerging Europe 1. The failure of the EU to develop a united stand on Iraq must induce present and future members states to redouble their efforts to build a common European foreign and security policy. Europe has to learn from this shock that it can be only effective in world affairs by standing together. 2. The EU can no longer remain idle when it comes to the more sensitive political and security challenges in the world. It has to take position on every major conflict in the world that may threaten European and international security, whether Kashmir, Iraq, North Korea or the Maghreb; and it must help finding solutions. In the past the EU has largely failed to do so. 3. In the immediate future, the EU should focus its efforts on its direct neighbours. It should assist Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Maghreb and the Greater Middle East in their struggle for more prosperity and democracy. It has started to do so both in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, with some visible results. 4. A successful European foreign and security policy depends on three conditions: ü The political will of all member states; ü A top quality foreign policy machinery; ü Efficient procedures for decision- making. 5. The failure to take a common stand on the Iraq issue should not be interpreted as a sign of missing political will. The Union might well have arrived at a common stand if the European Council had, in due time(early summer 2002), engaged in a serious debate and instructed the EU foreign policy apparatus to prepare the necessary elements for a common position. 6. The future EU Constitution must lay the foundations for a more effective EU foreign and security policy. One of the most difficult challenges before the Conve ntion will be to agree on forceful and courageous provisions.