Oxford News

Quickly, quietly the EU gains superpower status

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Take a close look at that Coca-Cola bottle in your refrigerator. Ever wonder why this quintessentially American concoction is sold in containers that say "2 Liters" instead of "two quarts?"

Blame it on the European Union. The EU says quarts are illegal, and bottlers — even those capping those ounces of liquid Americana — don't find it cost-effective to make two different sizes, one for Europe, the other for the United States.

From dictating the size of Coke bottles to dissuading Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions, the EU has arrived as a force to be reckoned with in the world.

Americans for years have tended to think of the European Union as merely an extension of the Common Market, a cooperative agreement intended to help the economies of European countries.

But evidence is mounting that the EU does not only aspire to be a counterweight to the United States in global affairs; it has already become one.

With the largest market on Earth, it does much to regulate global commerce — even that which takes place beyond its borders.

Last year, the EU pressured the U.S. Congress, against its will, into changing American tax law and eliminating tax breaks for American companies that sold goods overseas.

"My gut feeling about this is we fought a revolution 230 years ago to stop Europeans from telling us how we have to tax in this country," said Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House. "But the fact is, we have to do it. The EU and the WTO [World Trade Organization] have sort of a sword to our head. We don't like it, but we have to do what the Europeans are telling us to do."

And increasingly, countries in other regions of the world are looking not to America but to Europe as a model for the future.

"The Europeans have developed a different kind of power which is more effective in a world of globalization and democracy, where military power has very high costs associated with it," said Mark Leonard, the author of "Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century." "Europe has developed a transformative power which works through the rule of law and multilateral institutions."

Just what is the EU? It's a grouping of 25 countries that are cooperating on economics, foreign policy, military matters, peacekeeping and such things as agricultural, health and labor regulations.

The European Union, created originally to make renewed continental war in Europe unthinkable, is a unique experiment in international cooperation. It is not quite one country yet, but not fully 25 separate ones, either — more tightly knit, by far, than the United Nations, but not quite as bound as the 50 U.S. states.

Travelers can cross the borders between many EU countries without seeing a border guard, showing a passport, changing money — or even being aware they have crossed a national border. Yet the member companies still elect their own heads of government and maintain their own armed forces.

In short, while the Eiffel Tower will always be French, Big Ben British and the Leaning Tower of Pisa Italian, the more than 450 million people in EU member nations are well on their way to layering a European identity over their national ones.

On Jan. 1, 2002, in the most visible sign that the European countries were uniting into a federation resembling a superstate, the euro replaced the currencies of 12 of the then-15 members of the union. Only Denmark, Sweden and Britain opted to stay out — the latter despite former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's role as a philosophical father to the union.

The European Union evolved from the ashes of World War II. The vision of a "United States of Europe" — as called for by Churchill in 1946 — that would ensure the end of devastating continental conflicts began to take shape just four years later.

On May 9, 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed that French coal production and West German steel production be put under the control of a joint authority to assure that money could be made but war could not be waged. The coal and steel resources of the two countries, essentially, would be pooled.

Europeans date the beginnings of the European Union to that day. May 9 is celebrated as "Europe Day" with picnics and commemorations. In a poignant irony, the celebrations this year will be held the same day that international leaders, including President Bush, gather in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

On the eve of the anniversary of its founding, the EU is attracting more than passing interest from across the Atlantic.

A number of books by expert observers published recently argue that Europe is ascendant, and America's days as the world's sole superpower are reaching their end. The titles sum up the sentiment: "The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy;" "The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream;" "Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century;" and "Super-State: The New Europe and its Challenge to America."

"There's no doubt that we have a misconception about America's strength vis-à-vis Europe," said Jeremy Rifkin, the president of the Washington-based Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of "The European Dream." "The point is that they are every bit a superpower."

But why does Europe's increasing success matter to U.S. citizens? An analysis of expert opinion boils down to four basic assumptions:

— Europe, with its vastly lower murder rate, government-paid health care and longer life spans, might offer lessons for an America, where crime rates stay stubbornly high and health care has come under increasing scrutiny.

— Europe could help reduce America's balance of trade deficit. "It's a fantastic market for American goods," said T.R. Reid, a Washington Post reporter and the author of "The United States of Europe." "We're now spending $60 billion more a month for foreign goods than we sell overseas. Europe offers the biggest market in the world, and it's a single market."

— Europe, with its emphasis on communalism rather than rugged individualism, is increasingly seen as the model to emulate by nations seeking to integrate traditional culture with the forces of globalization.

— Europe has significant political influence which can sometimes limit American options in the world, and which U.S. policy-makers and voters must take into account.

The EU's increasing clout internationally stems from several factors, from the vastly greater amount of money that the EU spends on foreign aid compared to the United States to the strongly secular values it promotes at a time when America appears to be promoting what is perceived as a "Christian fundamentalist" agenda.

The recipients of EU aid listen closely to European views.

"There are about 80 countries around the world that cover 1.5 billion people for whom the European Union is the most important and critical player," said Leonard, director of foreign policy for the London-based Center for European Reform.

Observers who believe that Europe is in the ascendant tend to applaud its emphasis on pooled sovereignty rather than heightened nationalism, on valuing sustainability over growth, and on lifestyle — working to live rather than living to work.

They argue that Europe, with its "soft power" emphasis on environmentalism, human rights and international cooperation, now offers a vision of hope to much of the world. They contend its tactics of trying to reform Turkey and the Balkans by dangling the incentive of EU membership, or in trying to negotiate with Iran over nuclear regulation, is more suited to the 21st Century than the "hard power" of unbridled military force that is often perceived to be the first option for Washington in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world.

"If you go to Tehran [Iran], if you go to Ankara [Turkey], if you go to the Balkans, if you go to many Middle Eastern countries and North African countries, it is the European Union that is delivering change," Leonard said.

The EU, of course, does have its share of problems. The economies of France and Germany, two of the biggest member countries, are in the doldrums.

And the effort to approve a European Constitution as a further step toward confirming the EU as a superstate appears to be in deep trouble, even in France where the vote is scheduled for May 29.

The constitution needs to be ratified by all 25 member states, a prospect that's looking increasingly unlikely.

Many Europeans also are coming to view the EU government in the Belgian capital of Brussels as a bureaucracy run amok, a group of rule-making officials remote from everyday life. And there is fear on the streets of EU capitals that the open borders inside Europe makes each country more vulnerable to uncontrolled immigration.

But analysts say even the potential failure in approving the constitution will reverse neither the long-term trend toward greater unity nor Europe's march toward greater influence in the world.

Reid argues that leaders, if they find themselves ahead of their publics, will retrench and try again in several years.

"There is a fundamental momentum that goes back to the end of World War II toward unity, and that tends to overcome all the setbacks," he said.