Amidst the general uncertainty about the EU's goals and means fostered by the crisis, the Nobel Peace Prize has come as a reminder of what the Union stands for: the best example in history of successful integration in search of peace. Given the current circumstances, it is hard to believe that the Prize might spur indulgence among the member states but it remains to be seen if it can work as an incentive to take the next decisive move towards more Europe.
Challenges Ahead
The challenges for a real European foreign policy remain many. To start with, the new quest for sovereignty that the economic crisis has relaunched. When things started to go wrong, solidarity, the value which the EU project had been built upon, was replaced by national interest. If the gap between North and South, between rich and poor within the Union keeps growing it will be harder and harder to find common ground for a coordinated action.
Unfortunately, it is not among the citizens' worries or priorities: according to the Spring 2012 Eurobarometer, only seven percent of Europeans include foreign policy among the most important issues facing the EU, while 54 percent mentioned the economic situation, 34 percent the state of Member States public finances and 32 percent unemployment.
The evident lack of political will lies beneath many of the current woes. Even if many relevant decisions have been taken in the last months in order to strengthen the economic and monetary union, the general feeling both inside and outside the Union is that there is a constant reluctance to take decisive action.
Today the EU is in a slightly better shape than one year ago, when the whole project seemed about to collapse at any instant. But the European leaders have only bought time, without really daring to tackle the root of the problems. The sudden instability caused by the gloomy political landscape in Italy shows the fragile foundations of this tense calm in which we have been living.
Another major challenge is the UK. Despite its isolationist tendencies and self-exclusion from decisions such as the Fiscal Compact, the possibility of a British withdrawal of the Union opens a completely different scenario for the EU. A European foreign policy without Britain would be seriously handicapped.
Bluer Skies
The challenges remain many but so do the opportunities. Having to choose between dissolution and further integration, the vast majority of leaders clearly prefer the latter; and so would European citizens if confronted with a choice to leave or to stay, as the Greek case has show - even if the image of the EU keeps deteriorating. Not only that: more and more voices are in favor of moving towards a political union, starting with the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso. And the growing gap between citizenship and politics all across Europe calls for enhancing democratic practices.
In September, the Future of Europe report, signed by eleven foreign affairs ministers - from Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - was an attempt to bring foreign policy upper in the agenda. Interestingly enough, the lead in this field is being taken by countries and personalities who had not been at the core before, such as Sweden and Poland, and their respective foreign affairs ministers, Carld Bildt and Radek Sikorski. The latter's speech in Berlin last year is still considered the best manifesto of a European foreign policy-to-be. Additionally, the need to draw a real strategy has spread among scholars, think tanks, and officials; even if the light at the end of the tunnel is still very week, some people are starting to prepare what the EU might look like after the crisis.
The European way and experience of building consensus and using its soft power is also a chance in this new multipolar world. Throughout its history, Europe has shown a great degree of resilience to adapt itself to change, while guaranteeing peace and prosperity. No doubt that Europe could make it work again, but as events in Greece, Italy, the UK or Spain show, time is running out.
