MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political correspondent Andrei Fedyashin)
EU leaders gathered for the year's final summit in Brussels on December 11-12 in a gloomy mood. The European Union (EU) has been through various crises, but it has never been this far down.
The agenda seems to have been compiled by some antihero who threw in the world financial crisis, including the ordeal to get out of it, unpopular measures against the global warming, and the fate of the Lisbon Treaty (new Constitution) on EU reform. There were serious differences between EU member countries on all of these issues.
Given the atmosphere it is amazing the EU managed to achieve anything at the summit. The parameters of potential compromises had to be stretched for the sake of amorphous consensus. However, considering the deepening financial crisis, and what is at stake, the Europeans had no choice. If no agreement at all were reached on the economic and financial measures necessary to overcome the crisis, the program of reducing greenhouse emissions would also have gone down in flames, in which case Brussels' prestige would have fallen flat with the result that Lisbon Treaty ratification by the 27 EU members would not have had a chance. Now it does have a chance to live.
Concessions were made on cuts in greenhouse emissions and other energy issues to meet the EU's Eastern bloc halfway: for the sake of Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria, and also Greece. The Euro Commission's plan provides for a 20% reduction in harmful emissions by 2020 as compared to 1999. Before the summit, EU countries were supposed to buy emission quotas at open auctions starting in 2013. However, this would have meant the collapse of the Eastern bloc's energy industry. Now they are allowed to continue polluting the air (either for free, or on preferential terms) through 2019. This will not help air quality but it would have been even worse if the young Europeans were to have derailed the entire EU's 20/20/20 (reduce Green House Gas emissions by 20% by 2020).
The Europeans muddled through a package of economic incentives with a price tag of 200 billion Euros, which is 1.5% of the EU's GDP. This is a handsome sum but not as big as they might have wished. Skeptics say the package rests mostly on funds which have already been allocated by individual governments to their national economies.
What happened with the Lisbon Treaty was also a miracle. The Irish were persuaded to vote on it again, and in exchange promised what they wanted - a permanent seat on the Euro Commission. So the treaty will have to be re-tailored. Instead of 18 commissars (ministers), the EU is most likely to have 27. If Ireland receives a portfolio, the remaining 26 members should get them, too. The EU wanted to cut red tape but failed.
The EU will enter the New Year without a passport (the Constitution), and will be chaired by the Czech Republic, a country which has not yet decided whether it should ratify the new Constitution or not. Czech President Vaclav Klaus is said to be an adamant opponent of the Lisbon Treaty. He thinks it will encroach on his country's national independence. The Czech Republic will vote on the treaty early next year.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
