Parliament's foreign affairs (AFET) committee chair Elmar Brok has faith that the European Union has the "capacity to meet the international challenges" it is facing. The long-standing MEP told the Parliament Magazine that, "The strength of Europe lies in the potential to mobilise resources across the full range of diplomatic, security, defence, economic, trade, development and humanitarian instruments – both at EU and at national level.
And of course, this strength needs to be fully exploited, which is still a work in progress." Brok highlighted the "worrying developments of the past few months, in particular in Ukraine", as evidence that "peace on European territory cannot be taken for granted and that individual EU member states are unlikely to cope alone with the individual challenges ahead of us".
"The strength of the EU lies in the potential to mobilise resources across the full range of diplomatic, security, defence, economic, trade, development and humanitarian instruments"
With more than 30 years of parliamentary experience under his belt, Elmar Brok knows the EU's changing foreign affairs situation better than any other MEP. For him a key priority is the "enhancing of parliamentary scrutiny and therefore democratic legitimacy of the EU's foreign policy". "This means concretely improving the flow of information among institutions, the scrutiny of how the EU budget is spent on external assistance, and the monitoring of international negotiations at all stages."
Looking beyond mere scrutiny from MEPs, Brok voiced his hope that AFET would become involved in "upstream policy planning, with a view to achieving true joint strategic reflection". "Europe's foreign policy must be forward-looking instead of being reactive, especially in the EU broader neighbourhood, and the parliament can play a decisive role in this, including in pushing the member states into more unity," he stressed.
"In pursuing the two objectives of greater scrutiny and true joint action, our committee not only implements the treaty to the fullest possible extent, but also responds to the demands of EU citizens who have elected us and for the 70 per cent of them who say they want a common foreign and security policy. This is definitely a domain in which our citizens want more Europe."
Regarding the EU's international achievements since the formation of the external action service (EAS) through the Lisbon treaty, Brok stressed that the "synergies, coordination and visibility, as well as political leadership, which Europe needs are not yet fully achieved". "EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton had the highly challenging task to set up the EAS in a very short time and it is inevitable that some improvements are still required. The parliament has worked a lot in the past few years on concrete proposals on how these improvements can be achieved," he said.
"Europe's foreign policy must be forward-looking instead of being reactive, especially in the EU broader neighbourhood, and the parliament can play a decisive role in this, including in pushing the member states into more unity"
Despite the need for improvement, Brok highlighted Ashton's "success concluding the agreement between Serbia and Kosovo and her leading role in the nuclear talks with Iran". "These achievements have clearly demonstrated that when Europe speaks with one voice, the world listens," he added.
Looking to the future, the AFET chair told this magazine that a central task for the newly appointed high representative Federica Mogherini will be to "ensure the coordination, consistency and effectiveness of EU external action and strengthen the EU's position as a global player". "To achieve this she will need to make full use of the synergy effects granted by the EAS, and of her 'triple-hatted' position by combining her prerogatives as high representative, chair of the foreign affairs council, and vice-president of the commission. She should be able to lead and put all the energies and resources of the EU and of the member states at the service of the defence of our interests and values, and to steer the process of defining an overarching foreign policy strategy for the EU."
In AFET's relations with the commission, Brok said he was expecting "first of all, a trustful relationship, based on complementarity and open information sharing". However, he urged the commission to "devise an internal structure that allows for a comprehensive approach to EU external policies". This, he said, would require more "cross-portfolio cooperation among commissioners, including the integration of the external dimension of internal policies into a comprehensive foreign policy under the coordination of the high representative". "Some of Jean-Claude Juncker's announcements are encouraging in this regard," he added.
For Brok, AFET is well placed to meet and overcome the challenges facing Europe on the global stage. He praised the "tools and institutional set-up provided by the Lisbon treaty", concluding that "the parliament is able to give a comprehensive response that can effectively address the most challenging international issues."
Elmar Brok is chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee