EU summit: With one voice

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/24/eu-summit-with-one-voice-editorial

Version 0 of 1.

European Union summits ought to be a window of opportunity to show that Europe makes a difference. With populist scepticism about the EU on the rise in many countries, and with difficult elections to the European parliament looming next year, summits like the one taking place in Brussels this week have special importance.

These meetings of national leaders are a precious chance to display collective urgency and effectiveness. Europe needs these summits to be dynamic, addressing its big contemporary problems, showing that the EU is working for its citizens.

The last thing the leaders should do is allow their summits to be bogged down in a swamp of European commission initiatives and bureaucracy.

The worry about the current summit is that there is far too little attention being given to this pressing need. As usual, European leaders have no shortage of indisputably big issues on their agenda.

The biggest of the lot is how to support and nurture Europe's fragile economic recovery, marked by Spain's return to growth this week, Ireland's emergence from its bailout programme and a range of generally positive third-quarter growth figures, probably including the UK's, which are due on Friday.

But the leaders also have to deal with the tragic face of the ongoing migration and human trafficking crisis, highlighted by the deaths of hundreds of migrants off Lampedusa this month. And then there is US spying and surveillance.

All these issues have been or will be discussed in Brussels. But there is too little sense of urgency. Too much of the leaders' time is taken up on traditional commission-generated business, like the digital agenda, the single-market regulatory regime, or even youth employment.

It is not that any of these is unimportant – especially not with youth unemployment at or above 50% in some parts of southern Europe.

But the summits will never capture the public's imagination if they appear centred on procedure not urgency.

This is certainly true of the response that is required to the NSA spying row. Across the EU, too many leaders, from Angela Merkel down, have been slow and cautious about responding to the issues raised by Edward Snowden's revelations.

Yet the revelations about US monitoring of Mrs Merkel's phone – and in all probability the phones of leaders from Brazil to Britain too – are a tailor-made issue for collective EU action.

The issues are simple: reliable allies should not spy on one another – and American soft power is undermined by these outrageous intrusions.

The former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger may or may not have actually asked: "Who do I call when I want to call Europe?" Today, however, is a day when Europe should call America back – and speak with one voice.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.