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Obed Matus - THE BATTALION.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy, speaks Monday at the George Bush Presidential Library.

Official speaks of EU's

By: Bart Schaetter

Posted: 9/26/06

In the United States, there is a perception that Europe is "nothing but a large, open-air museum slowly gathering dust and fading away into obscurity," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations and Neigbourhood Policy.

"Some believe we are pretty much yesterday," Ferrero-Waldner said.

Ferrero-Waldner addressed this perception at a symposium Monday hosted at the George Bush Library by the European Union Center of Excellence at Texas A&M.

"This was a good opportunity for (Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner) to visit and address the center," said Johan Lembke, director of the European Union Center of Excellence. "She had known the previous President George Bush, and that was another draw for her to come here."

The Commissioner had spent the last week in New York City attending United Nations talks.

"Since becoming Commissioner, I always have tried to combine the U.N. week in New York with visits to American universities," she said.

In response to the perception that the EU is declining, Ferrero-Waldner said the Union is growing and changing in ways that people who live elsewhere do not always comprehend.

"The fact is, the European Union is already a global player," she said.

With over half of a billion population spread over 25 countries and two more to be admitted in January, the EU controls one-fourth of the world's income, one-fifth of the world's trade and 60 percent of global development assistance, Ferrero-Waldner said.

Despite being a global player, the EU is not immune to problems, most of which it shares with the United States, she said.

International terrorism, immigration, the global spread of disease, global warming and violence and instability in Iraq are all problems the EU and United States share, she said.

"Global warming is one area where Europeans feel more of a threat than the Americans," Ferrero-Waldner said.

In the wake of its proposed constitution being shot down last year, the member nations of the EU agreed on a period of reflection, she said.

"We have taken advantage of the pause to reconnect with our citizens," she said. "We recognize that what our citizens want is results, so we are concentrating on concrete achievements to show that the EU is part of the solution not part of the problem."

Among these achievements is having the lowest unemployment since 1998.

The EU is also turning its attention to boosting innovation facilitated by the formation of the European Institute of Technology, which will serve as the flagship of European excellence, Ferrero-Waldner said. The union is also working on building a stronger foreign policy, she said.

"The stronger we are, indeed, the more we can achieve," she said.

As part of building a stronger foreign policy, the EU has been actively involved in Afghanistan, providing over half of the troops in NATO's international security force, she said. The EU also shared the costs of the presidential and parliamentary elections with the US there, she said.

"It is crucial that we succeed in bringing lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan," Ferrero-Waldner said. "The European Union has been a steadfast partner in the stabilization and recovery process of Afghanistan."

Still battling the open-air museum perception, the EU has lately been a driving force for the stability of many other nations, including Israel, Lebanon and Iraq, she said.

"Wherever there is a need to prevent conflict or to help countries overcome its devastations," Ferrero-Waldner said. "We, the European Union, are there."