http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/im ... 73173.aspx
Contrast this with the situation in 2003, when Javier Solana, then the high representative for the common foreign and security policy, responded to divisions over the war in Iraq by persuading national leaders to adopt a common global security strategy.
Solana's approach should now be emulated for the southern Mediterranean. In essence, the EU's member states and institutions need to set out a strategic narrative that defines the EU's values, its interests in the region and the political framework for EU policies.
To persuade member states, Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, would need to show reinvigorated leadership. Even then, she would struggle to secure agreement. The economic crisis limits funds, and the EU's institutional crisis reduces the chances that the 27 member states will muster the political will needed.
But Arab democrats need straightforward answers from the EU. And a southern strategy would be a major stepping stone toward a revision of the global strategy set out by Solana, which has been revised just once in eight years, in 2008.
