EU losing its soul by kowtowing to US
Their statements are in line with the balanced, evenhanded approach they endorse but they appear to be the only ones content to adopt this attitude and it does not seem to be having beneficial effect.
Their position is of course difficult with one of the strongest EU members.
Britain at odds with the other big players in the Union.
And their position is difficult too because they want to avoid, it seems at all costs, any showdown with the United States.
But one wonders for how long more this can continue. The US has not shied away from working and lobbying against the EU's policies on the Kyoto Agreement and the International Criminal Court.
And in case there can be any doubts about whose interests the US is serving, these should be clarified by fresh revelations in relation to a UN list of people to be sanctioned for their involvement with the regime of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian dictator.
The French and others want to add the name of the infamous Victor Bout to the list and so freeze his assets.
He is well known in the shady world of arms dealing and has supplied arms to rebel and government forces involved in several African conflicts and he is considered to be the principale arms dealer in the region.
However, diplomats at the UN report the US, with the support of Britain, is resisting the move because they are using Mr Bout, his arms and his airplanes in Iraq now. Mr Bout was described as a "merchant of death" by a British minister in the recent past.
This bending over backwards to accommodate the relationship with the US is now affecting the principles of the EU.
The EU of values, of democracies is slipping as it adopts some US foreign policies like recognising Pakistan as being a properly constituted democracy, when clearly it is not.
Peoples without democracy who are working or hoping for it can no longer be confident that the EU will support them or point the way forward.
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