Last Update: July 26, 2007

Online Dossier:
Balance Sheet of Germany’s EU Council Presidency 2007

Overview

Germany's Council presidency of the European Union has widely been hailed as a success in the national and international press. Some of its impact will only become visible in the medium and long-term. More in-depth assessments from the scientific and policy community are not yet available but will be published in the weeks and months to come. In this dossier of "Deutsche-Aussenpolitik.de" we take a first systematic stock of Germany's term from January 1 to June 30, 2007. While we share the generally positive assessment, we also point to those issues - especially in the area of foreign and security policy - which have not been resolved in the past six months and will thus remain on the EU's agenda.

The following overview by topic juxtaposes Berlin's stated goals before the presidency as reflected in major official documents and speeches (see the compilation in this dossier) with the actual results at the end of the term.

This dossier complements our outlook on the German EU presidency at the beginning of this year (Foreign Policy in Dialogue No. 21) which focussed on the perspectives and expectations of Germany's major EU partners.

1. Future of the Constitutional Treaty/ Reform of the Treaties
2. Berlin Declaration on the Future of the European Union
3. "Bringing the EU Closer to the Citizens"
4. The Future of the European and Economic Social Model
5. Common Energy Policy and Climate Protection
6. Internal Security (Combating Crime and Terrorism)
7. EU Immigration Policy
8. EU Enlargement
9. Eastern Policy of the European Union
10. Crisis Management
11. Strategic Partnerships and Multilateral Trade Policy

Stated Goals
The future of the Constitutional Treaty was without much doubt the defining topic of the German Council presidency which would ultimately determine failure and success.
By the end of last year, the government had stated two major goals: 1) to preserve the Constitutional Treaty in its substance and 2) to provide an agreed "road map" - including "orientation, process and a time frame" - towards the solution of the constitutional question. From the beginning, Berlin explicitly sought to play the role of a mediator between the countries whose constituencies had refused to ratify the treaty (France and the Netherlands) or suspended the ratification process (United Kingdom) and those 18 countries which had ratified the document. The German government made clear, however, that the former group had to move a bit further than the latter.

Achievements
The German presidency was unable to safeguard the Constitutional Treaty in its form. The Presidency Conclusions of the June 22, 2007, European Council simply state: "The constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them by a single text called 'Constitution', is abandoned." Instead, the approach adopted now is to reform the existing treaties. Federalist symbols (besides the term "Constitution" the European flag and the European anthem) are also erased from the texts.
Importantly, the presidency succeeded to sustain the "political substance" of the Constitutional Treaty: most of the reforms agreed by the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in 2004 are preserved in the agreed detailed mandate for the new IGC. Among them are:

• The EU "High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy" will not be called "European Foreign Minister" but will be up-graded as Vice-President of the European Union and Chair of the Council of Foreign Ministers. He will be supported by a European Foreign Service.
• The European Council will be chaired by a permanent President to be elected for two-and-a-half years and will be supported on the operational level by "team presidencies" of successive governments (as practiced for the first time by Germany, Portugal and Slovenia in 2007/2008).
• The "Double Majority" will be introduced as the Council voting procedure despite Polish opposition but will be postponed until 2014/2017.
• The Charter of Fundamental Rights will become legally binding even though it will not be included directly into the reformed treaties.
• Majority voting will be extended to such areas as justice and police cooperation, the co-decision rights of the European Parliament will be extended.
• National parliaments will have a stronger say than originally envisaged by the Constitutional Treaty. By majority they can force the European institutions to reconsider legislative proposals in the light of subsidiarity requirements.

The entry into force of these changes hinges upon the eventual agreement and ratification of a final text in the process to be concluded under the Portuguese presidency until the end of 2007. The 16-page mandate for this Intergovernmental Conference decided by the European Council in June is unique in the history of European integration - both in its scope and in its detailed character. In fact, by itself it does not leave too much room for bargaining. In this respect, the German presidency has been much more successful than was originally aimed at. As a qualifying remark, it should be noted, however, that the many "footnotes" and "opt-outs" (especially for the United Kingdom) seem to reinforce the trend towards differentiated forms of cooperation and integration in the EU.
It is hoped that the next elections to the European Parliament in June 2009 will take place on the basis of the reformed treaties.

Stated Goals
The German presidency announced its goal to publish a short and accessible political declaration whose main function would be to (re)state the European Union's basic rationale and values and to offer a plausible "justification for the European project against the background of the challenges of the 21st century". The document shall thus inspirit more public support for the European project.

Achievements
The government drafted a 1.5 page-long "Berlin Declaration" which was endorsed by all the Heads of State and Government during the EU Summit at the beginning of March 2007. It describes the historical achievements and basic values of the EU (democracy, rule of law, tolerance, dignity of the individual being). It further describes the future of the European integration process with the trilogy of enlargement, internal consolidation and stability transfer, though it does so in quite general terms: "The European Union will continue to thrive both on openness and on the will of its member states to consolidate the Union's internal development." It will also "promote democracy, stability and prosperity beyond its borders"; Whether or not this document will have any impact on the public perception of the European Union will be impossible to determine; a major achievement of the document at half-way of the German presidency was to generate an explicit commitment among the governments to the institutional reform agenda (see above): The "Berlin Declaration" ended: "[W]e are united in our aim of placing the European Union on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009."

Stated Goals
It was a leitmotif of the German presidency to reduce the perceived distance between the European Union and its citizens. A crucial aspect in this context was to launch a German-sponsored Action Plan to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and improve European legislation. Other planned measures included the clearer delineation of EU and national competences, to focus on European measures where Europe can deliver value added as compared to national and regional actors (strengthening the subsidiarity principle) and the introduction of the "discontinuity principle" (the abandonment of unfinished legislative projects after the election of a new European Parliament).

Achievements
The concluding documents of the German presidency point to several decisions across a range of topics which are supposed to "bring Europe closer to its citizens". The government underlines specific measures, such as the "roaming directive" to reduce the fees for mobile telephone calls across national borders or steps towards a Common European Payment Area, which are meant to make life, work and travelling for European citizens easier.
Moreover, the European Council agreed to reduce 25% of the administrative burdens caused by EU regulations by 2012 and to support the corresponding European Commission's Action Plan to "Measure and Reduce Bureaucratic Burdens". Heads of State and Government can surely count German Commissioner Guenther Verheugen as one of their allies as he had tried to cut red tape in the European Commission already in the past.

The concluding documents (including the mandate for the Intergovernmental Conference under the Portuguese Presidency) do not mention the "Discontinuity Principle" anymore.

Stated Goals
The "Lisbon Agenda" on economic growth and innovation was underlined as a central aim of the German presidency. Apart from investing more energy and resources in Research and Education, the government focussed on the further liberalization of the Internal Market, especially in the energy and telecommunication (postal services) sectors. It was also stated as a goal to underpin the European Social Model with concrete contents and to develop "our model of the European welfare state". At the same time, Berlin underlined from the outset that social policy continues to be dominated by national prerogatives. Accordingly, future measures were restricted to the exchange of "national experiences", work protection, promotion of innovative approaches in the areas of family and employment as well as a Directive on the portability of company pensions.

Achievements
In the area of social policy, the presidency produced few concrete results. In its own official balance sheet, the German presidency states that the term "flexicurity" (a combination of flexibility and security) could be defined in more concrete terms, but at the same time acknowledges: "It has become clear that every country follows its own approach to find the right balance between flexibility and security."
Concerning the Internal Market, the governments under the German presidency could not agree on specific measures to liberalize the markets for gas, electricity and for postal services. Yet, the European Council in March 2007 agreed on an Energy Action Plan on more specific goals to eventually attain a true internal market for gas and electricity (separation of generation and distribution networks; non-discrimination for access to networks, better coordination of national regulators). Furthermore, the European Council on June 22 noted progress - but not yet agreement - on a draft Directive on the internal market of postal services and urged both Council and Commission to come to an agreement "in due time."

Stated Goals
Besides the already mentioned Energy Action Plan (see above Topic 4), the German presidency also put the promotion of energy efficiency, use of renewable energy and the formulation of ambitious goals for the reduction of Carbon Dioxide (CO-2) emissions high on its agenda ("development of a negotiation package with propositions for emission reduction targets and options for the inclusion of other large greenhouse gas emitters as well as the implementation and further development of the trade with emissions certificates.")
At the intersection of energy and foreign policy, the government vowed to improve the dialogue with energy produces (especially Russia), transit countries as well as with the US, emerging markets and developing countries.

Achievements
Together with the reform of the European treaties (see Topic 1), energy and climate protection policy became the area where the German presidency earned most praise by national and international commentators. In March 2007, the Heads of State and Government agreed on the target for EU states to reduce their common CO-2 emissions by at least 20% until 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) and to 30% should other developed countries follow suit. Moreover, they agreed to work towards a follow-up mechanism to the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012, under the auspices of the United Nations.
It was thus a major achievement that the German presidency could present this common EU position to its partners during the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm in mid-June. The G-8 could finally agree to pursue the establishment of a follow-up process, but failed to reach common ground on binding emission reduction targets similar to the EU's.
The Energy Action Plan drafted by the German presidency additionally includes the goal to improve energy efficiency (minus 20% of energy consumption compared to projected trends until 2020) and to strengthen the role of renewable energy sources (target of 20% of total energy consumption until 2020). With all these measures, the increase of global temperature shall be limited to 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era.
In sum, the achievements under the German EU presidency in the areas of energy policy and climate protection mainly consist of stated goals. The ultimate success will thus only be measurable within the next years when governments deal with the implementation of these goals and when a new global climate compact will have to be concluded. Moreover, these European-wide goals will have to be broken down into commitments by individual member states - a process which involves contested issues of distribution and burden sharing.

Concerning the dialogue with other countries, the EU intensified its dialogue on energy policy with the US and Russia and also strengthened the energy dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy (see below Topic 9). Crucially, however, the European Union was not yet able to conclude a long awaited Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia which would also include more binding commitments in the energy sector (see below Topic 9). The dispute between Poland and Russia over Polish meat imports remains a serious obstacle to the conclusion of this agreement.

Stated Goals
In the area of internal security and police cooperation, the German government set the goal to strengthen Europol and to deepen the European Information Network (among other things through the integration of the "Pruem Treaty" on DNA, finger prints and licence plate numbers in the European legal framework).

Achievements
In the first half of 2007, the member states took several concrete steps towards the creation of a Common European Information Network for the national security and police agencies. Most notably, the Pruem Treaty which was concluded in Mai 2005 by the governments of Belgium, Spain, Germany, France, Luxemburg, Netherlands and Austria, was successfully included into the European framework under the German presidency. Moreover, further progress was made in the installation of a Visa Information System (VIS) and the possibility of limited access for national security and policy agencies to the VIS, the Schengen Information System (SIS), EURODAC as well as the common Customs Information System as long as it serves the fight against grave crime and terrorism. Progress was also made in the electronical interconnection of national criminal records.
The strengthening of Europol lagged behind stated goals and German expectations. In the official balance sheet of its Council presidency, the German government simply states that "[d]ifficult questions concerning the financing and staffing remain to be clarified between the member states" (our translation).

Stated Goals
The creation of a coherent migration and asylum policy has been a declared goal of the European Union since the conclusion of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997. While the Europeanization has made progress in the areas of border protection and asylum policy, the issue of legal (economic) migration has remained contested among national governments. Among other EU members, the German government has insisted on national prerogatives in this context as well. Accordingly, the German presidency acknowledged from the beginning that legal migration has to be governed by a "high degree of flexibility for national regulations". Concerning integration policies and specifically the dialogue with Islam, the presidency stated the goal of improving the exchange of experiences and information among EU member states. It also sought to strengthen the competences and resources of the new European border agency (FRONTEX), including the creation of permanent joint expert teams and a pool of border patrol experts.

Achievements
During the German presidency, governments agreed on a new regulation to install "rapid border protection teams" (consisting of a pool of national border patrol experts), launched a Coastal Patrol Network and created a centralized "toolbox of technical equipment" available to the member states of FRONTEX. All this is supposed to strengthen the operational effectiveness of this new agency.
On the political level, Berlin was able to commit its European partners to extend the Common Comprehensive Approach to Migration towards the eastern and south-eastern neighbourhood of the EU. The German government stated that with this measure "the current focus of EU migration policy on the Mediterranean and Africa" will be "balanced". In sum, the European Union in the first half of 2007 further strengthened the common policies towards protecting its common borders (and possibly improved the dialogue with third countries on immigration policy). On legal immigration, no concrete decisions were made during this time.

Stated Goals
The question of further enlargements of the European Union has been among the most fundamental and contested topics on the European agenda in recent years. The governing parties in Germany have themselves been split over this issue (most notably with regard to Turkey). Chancellor Angela Merkel made it clear at the beginning of her government's EU Council presidency that she was still committed to the accession process of Croatia and Turkey as well as to the association processes with the countries of the Western Balkans. At the same time, Merkel gave priority to internal reform over further enlargements when she stated on January 2, 2007 that "there cannot be any more accessions on the basis of the existing treaties."
Among the few concrete goals of the German presidency was the conclusion of Stabilization and Association Agreements with Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Achievements
The remarks on the EU's ongoing enlargement process in the official balance sheet of Germany's Council presidency are left vague and are limited to a single paragraph, basically summarizing the current status quo.
The negotiations for the future accessions of Croatia and Turkey are ongoing processes - it is thus not surprising that the EU did not produce concluding results under the German presidency. While the Croatian case is not contested among member states, the negotiations with Turkey remain problematic and progress was not forthcoming. The EU opened two more chapters in the negotiation process (after a freeze earlier this year), but as Ankara still refuses to extend the "Ankara Protocol" (on customs regulations) to Cyprus (which it does not acknowledge as a sovereign state) the major obstacle for further progress remains in place. Things have become even more complicated since the election of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who is an outspoken opponent of Turkish membership in the EU. Among Germany's coalition parties, too, Turkey remains an unresolved yet "frozen" conflict.
In the first half of 2007, the European Union was not yet able to conclude Stabilization- and Association Agreements with Serbia and Bosnia. However, negotiations with Serbia were finally resumed in June 2007 after they had been stopped because of Serbia's unsatisfactory cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. On March 15, 2007, the government of Montenegro and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn could initial a Stabilisation and Association Agreement which has yet to enter into force.

Stated Goals
In the area of foreign policy, the German government put the EU's eastern dimension on top of its Council agenda. This dimension consisted of three distinct yet complementary parts: Further development of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the relationship between the EU and Russia, and the adoption of a common EU Strategy for Central Asia.

Achievements
Most visible progress was made in the development of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which had officially been launched in 2004 as a way to offer those countries in the EU's eastern and southern vicinities with no short- or medium-term accession perspective a closer political and economic relationship.
The major achievement of the German presidency was to draft an "Intermediate Progress Report" on the ENP which was endorsed by the foreign ministers of all member states on June 18/19, 2007. It summarizes the current state and agreements on the further reform of the ENP. Most notably, it states the goal to associate the ENP-partner countries in Eastern Europe, Caucasia, and Northern Africa more closely with the EU's internal market and to open the possibility for them to participate in selected Community programs and agencies. The document also foresees the enhancement of the eastern and south-eastern dimensions of the ENP (including migration policy). This was a special concern of Berlin in order to balance the perceived southern bias of this policy field. Another novelty is the "Black Sea Synergy"-Initiative contained in the Progress Report (but already launched in April 2007). The initiative seeks to promote cooperation in the Black Sea region on a variety of topics (energy, environment, transportation, democracy, rule of law, human rights). It includes EU newcomers Romania and Bulgaria, accession candidate Turkey, as well as Russia and the Black Sea countries already covered by the ENP. On the negative side of the balance sheet of the ENP, the EU was not yet able to conclude a long-awaited "enhanced" agreement with Ukraine.
Another success under the German presidency - pushed forward especially by Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier - was the publication of an agreed EU strategy for Central Asia which for the first time explicitly defines the EU's interests in this increasingly important region. The strategy is supposed to establish a regular regional political dialogue on foreign ministers level as well as dialogues on human rights and energy policy. It also includes a "Rule of Law Initiative" to support, train and assist the Central Asian states in this area. Enhanced economic integration of the Central Asian states in the regional and world economy is another stated objective of the strategy.
A major desideratum remains the relationship between the EU and Russia. Both sides have so far been unable to conclude a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. This new agreement, which is to replace the expiring old one, is supposed to put into practice their proclaimed "strategic partnership", for instance by introducing more transparency in the energy sector. Superficially, the agreement is blocked by a dispute between Poland and Russia over Polish meat exports. Yet, the blockade stands in the broader context of deteriorated relations between Russia and the West, including a variety of contested issues (energy policy, tensions with the Baltic Republics, missile defence and the final status of Kosovo). Interestingly, Russia is the one point where the national and international assessments of Germany's Council presidency have been mixed - while some commentators insist that Berlin did not do enough to improve the relationship with Moscow, others complain that it was too soft.

Stated Goals
By definition, crisis management includes reactions to unforeseen international developments and events which cannot be planned for in advance. Germany's previous Council presidency in the first half of 1999 was defined by such a European crisis - the war of NATO against Serbia. While such dramatic events did not occur in the first half of 2007, the list of European and international trouble spots had become quite long when Berlin took over the chair. Writing for "Deutsche-Aussenpolitik.de" earlier this year, Political Director of the German Foreign Office, Michael Schaefer, stated that "Germany will not be able to resolve the major international conflicts and acute crises in the six months of its presidency. As with every EU presidency, the main priority will be to deal with the day-to-day political challenges."
Virtually all of these topics were on the international agenda before the beginning of 2007. In that sense they were not entirely "unexpected", but they involve protracted conflicts and a plurality of actors outside of the EU. Against this background, Berlin formulated quite modest goals: To advance the political process in the Western Balkans, especially with regard to the final status of Kosovo where it was even hoped to conclude a final agreement in the first half of 2007; to prepare the EU's largest civilian ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) mission in Kosovo after a final status agreement (with a focus on justice and police cooperation); to strengthen Europe's role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan; to revive the Middle East Quartet; to come closer to a political solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program; and to promote the political process in Lebanon where European countries (including Germany) have been involved in the UNIFIL observer mission.

Achievements
In the official balance sheet of its Council presidency, the German government simply states that "several highly complex, still unresolved international problems" remain on the agenda. The EU's most visible accomplishments during the German presidency include the launching of the ESDP mission "EUPOL Afghanistan" to train the Afghan police with about 160 European police officers (in fact multilateralizing and reinforcing the previous German engagement) and the reanimation of the Middle East Quartet (consisting of the US, EU, UN and Russia) in order to search for a solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It is inevitably a highly subjective endeavour to assess the roles of the EU and of the German Council presidency in international crisis management. From a purely outcome-oriented perspective, however, it is rather save to note that most, if not all, of the international conflicts have become more rather then less intense since the beginning of 2007. Moreover, there have been few European initiatives (at least in public) in international crisis management within the past six or seven months.
The situation in the Middle East has deteriorated as a de facto civil war broke out between Hamas and Fatah in Palestine, making progress in the political process virtually impossible. In Lebanon, the central government is now besieged both by Hezbollah and Islamist groups in the north and in the south of the country. The conflict with Iran simmers on while Tehran has constantly expanded its nuclear program in defiance of UN Security Council Resolutions. In the Western Balkans, the negotiations over Kosovo's final status are deadlocked as both Serbia and Russia refuse to accept former Finnish President Athisaari's plan for "conditional independence".

Stated Goals
Ahead of its Council presidency, the German government also stated several goals to improve the EU's trade and economic relationships both in the bilateral and multilateral contexts. Concerning bilateral trade policies, Berlin sought to launch a common economic initiative between the EU and the United States (regulatory cooperation, cooperation on innovation/technology, trade and security, capital markets, including "hedge funds", energy dialogue and the protection of intellectual property) and to conclude a framework agreement with the People's Republic of China as well as an association agreement with the Mercosur countries of Latin America. On the multilateral front, the major goal was to unlock the stalled Doha Round of trade talks within the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Achievements
The most visible achievement under the German Council presidency was the conclusion of a transatlantic framework agreement on economic relations which includes most of the items stated as goals beforehand (with the exception of regulating the activities of hedge funds). Both the EU and the US agreed to reduce "unnecessary double regulations" which could harm economic exchange between both markets and to install an Economic Council to this end.
Concerning multilateral trade, the EU was unable to contribute to a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations over the Doha Development Agenda. Agricultural policy remains among the most contested issues in this context. In March 2007 the European Council could thus only state a general appeal to all parties to come to a "constructive engagement".
Though not part of the EU framework, the initiation of the "Heiligendamm Process" by the G-8 summit in June can also be counted as an achievement under the German (G8) presidency. The Process consists of a "new form of dialogue in particular with Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa". Its aim is to enhance cooperation and dialogue on innovation and intellectual property, investment conditions and development aid.