The European Union will soon select its next “foreign minister”—the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy—but rumors suggest an opportunity may be missed. At a time of so many international crises, Europe needs a more robust voice and America needs a stronger partner.
Now should be the time for a more effective European voice in foreign affairs. The usual means of jockeying for jobs in Brussels should not drive decision making. Generating a needed sense of unity and activism behind any new lead in articulating European foreign policy should be the desired objective.
Controversy in the recent choice of the next president of the European Commission, the EU's executive body, ought to be avoided in the selection of the new high representative. President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker, heretofore not one of the continent’s most widely known figures, will need heft with German chancellor Angela Merkel and other top leaders, for example, to help shepherd to a successful conclusion the negotiations with America on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Two years ago in Warsaw in a public discussion with Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger chuckled that long ago he was credited with asking whom he should call if he wanted to call Europe. “I am not sure I actually said it, but it's a good statement.” More seriously, he added, “Even if a telephone exists and even if they answered it, the answer is not always very clear.
