Cox focuses on European stars

PAT COX finished one of the most hectic phases of his presidency when 10 countries signed up to join the European Union in Athens last week, but he’s looking forward to the next development — the debate over a single foreign policy and a defence force.

He has not shied away from any of the difficult issues during the last few months as Europe goes through an identity crisis. The Munster MEP led parliament discussions with UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix in the attempt to avert the Iraq war. He is now preparing the 460-member parliament to play its role in reshaping the EU's relationship with the rest of the world.

The two-day meeting in Athens was an opportunity for him to discuss the possibilities with the EU leaders. He was the first person to address them at the summit and had time for personal discussions at events like the celebratory dinner, when he sat beside French President Jacques Chirac.

"Europe cannot afford to avoid dealing with the defence issue," he says.

Without it we have only half a foreign policy dealing with issues like multi-lateralism, sustainable development and Kyoto.

"Each is valid and we play a very good role in the world with such policies. But what do you do in the hard cases, such as in Kosovo, Bosnia?"

Whether all the EU members agree on the need for a defence force or not, the reality is that it is happening at an inter-governmental level with the meeting at the end of this month between France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg on defence.

However, Mr Cox says while France is vital for such a force to emerge, so is Britain and he believes it would be better were this to happen under the EU than outside the union.

"If nothing happens on this inside the EU it will become an inter-governmental matter and these countries will not give away a judgment call on war or peace to the European Commission or Parliament."

But, speaking as an Irish MEP he says no one in Europe is going to oblige Ireland to do things it does not want to do, including being part of a European defence.

He adds that despite all the scare tactics used in campaigns on Irish referenda on various EU Treaties, the debate is proof that there is no EU army.

He was against the war on Iraq, but with the war coming to an end he says it's time to work with the political realities. Now the most important task is for the members of the EU to unite.

As leaders prepared to plant symbolic olive trees in the ancient soil of Athens, Mr Cox was urging people to concentrate on looking after the immediate needs of the Iraqi people. This is one essential task that Europeans can do together and one that will be a real help to the war victims. In interview after interview during the summit he pushed his ideas.

"We should be building an air bridge between Europe and Iraq, using our hospitals and medical skills to help the people so tragically injured in this war," he said.

These of course are not the only wounds that need to be healed the transatlantic relationships between Europe and the US and between the EU nations themselves all need careful attention. That work has already started, as was obvious at the Athens meeting.

"The day the war started, the EU leaders met in Brussels and you could have cut the atmosphere there was real tension and the public divisions were very clear. Here in Athens the atmosphere was different. There was a cooling down and a softening of the edges. We are in the phase where we have to heal the wounds."

However, he insists he is not pessimistic but realistic about the situation within the union.

"We have to accept that we have had a setback. I think there is an understanding of that."

He quotes UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who said the international situation was the worst crisis since the end of the Cold War. Identifying the problem at least was healthy but while all agree the UN needs to play a role, the reality is that the US "feel they have a right to call the shots and they will call the shots", he says.

America is the most powerful and richest nation in the world. If Europe wants the US to listen, then the EU must listen to itself and learn to speak with one voice. This is the lesson of Iraq, he says.

Mr Cox is not just a gritty politician, he is also a visionary who likes to use symbols in his presidential addresses. At the ceremony where the 10 new members signed the Treaty of Accession in Athens, he spoke of what the blue European flag symbolises.

The 12 stars in a clock-like circle represents the Europe Union evolving over time while the circle itself is the European ideal of unity and harmony.

He refers to former Czech president Vaclav Havel's comments as seeing the stars as a reminder that the world could become a better place from time to time if we had the courage to look to the stars.

"Today, of all days, it is my privilege on behalf of the European Parliament to suggest to you that in the lifetime of our old continent, as we consign our fractured past to the history books, this is a moment to look to the stars, to contemplate a better future together," he told the gathering of new and old member states.

In the meantime there are still referenda to be won in seven future member states, and he will be active in each country, campaigning for a Yes vote.

He knows the territory well having thrown himself into Ireland's Nice Referendum, and having spent a lot of time over the past three years talking to the candidate countries and winning over their liberal parties to join his grouping in the parliament.