The European Way

The trouble with “Europe” is that it doesn’t exist. The governments of the European Economic Community (EEC) appear to believe, however, that if they launch enough common initiatives in foreign policy, a recognizable European identity will magically emerge. We have had the EEC initiative for Palestine [NR, May 1], and now we have the EEC Afghanistan initiative, which is worth a few thoughts on its own.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, has been in Moscow to discuss the latest “initiative,” which, as we have known since June 23 (when the EEC governments backed it), consists of persuading the USSR to attend an international conference designed to get Soviet forces out of Afghanistan. The notion is so bizarre that I thought, when I first read of it, that it must be some kind of elaborate joke. But let us, for a start, give it the courtesy of serious consideration.

The trouble with “Europe” is that it doesn’t exist. The governments of the European Economic Community (EEC) appear to believe, however, that if they launch enough common initiatives in foreign policy, a recognizable European identity will magically emerge. We have had the EEC initiative for Palestine [NR, May 1], and now we have the EEC Afghanistan initiative, which is worth a few thoughts on its own.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, has been in Moscow to discuss the latest “initiative,” which, as we have known since June 23 (when the EEC governments backed it), consists of persuading the USSR to attend an international conference designed to get Soviet forces out of Afghanistan. The notion is so bizarre that I thought, when I first read of it, that it must be some kind of elaborate joke. But let us, for a start, give it the courtesy of serious consideration.