Strength Through Change

At a European Union summit in Lisbon, Portugal two years ago, leaders set out reform goals aimed at making Europe the most competitive economy in the world by 2010.

Since then, deadlines have been missed, the reform effort has run out of steam and the US has increased its economic lead over Europe.

The problem? The EU has to become more efficient, says its Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana in a drafted strategy paper leaked to the press.

Solana is also Secretary-General of the European Council, which will meet in Barcelona, Spain for a two-day summit beginning Friday.

No more travelling circus

Solana's major proposal is an end to the rotation system for the European Council, the EU's main decision-making body. The presidency of the Council is held for six months by each of the member states in turn. Spain currently holds the rotating EU presidency, termed by some observers as a "travelling circus".

The present rotating model is no longer appropriate for the EU in the 21st century, Solana criticizes. The 15-nation bloc needed a more continual leadership representing Europe if it wanted to take an active role in world politics. The constant change in the presidency "weakens us in the eyes of other leaders", he says in the strategy paper.

In the leaked document, Solana rebuffs the current Summit proceedings. "The current presidency has developed into a matter of national prestige," he says. Every state only sets its own priorities and "thus breaks the necessary balance and continuity" of European tasks.

This situation would only get worse with the planned EU expansion by ten new states in 2004.

EU has to speed up reforms

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said on Wednesday that EU leaders have a duty to push forward the slowing process of structural reform when they meet in Barcelona.

He insisted EU governments did not disagree on the need for reform. Their debate was only over the speed with which reforms should be put into practice, he said.

The Barcelona summit, Aznar said, would have "the determination, the vocation, and the duty to take up again, in a strong and determined way, the whole strategy of economic and social reforms in Europe". Only from a position of economic leadership could Europe "exploit the opportunities presented by globalization", he added.

Spain's priorities for the Barcelona summit are the linking up of European transport networks, opening energy markets, integrating financial markets, improving education systems and making labor markets more flexible with the aim of reaching full employment in the 15-nation bloc by 2010.

High security

A huge security operation will be in force for the summit, with some 8,500 police officers detailed to guard EU leaders. It will be the largest security operation since the 1992 Olympics.

Unions and anti-globalization groups have called demonstrations against the leaders' economic agenda.