European Council on 18 & 19 June 2009: Presidency Conclusions

The June 2009 European Council has ended, and the Presidency Conclusions have been published.

The only positive word I can highlight:

"The Heads of State or Government agreed unanimously on the name of Mr. José Manuel DURÃO BARROSO as the person they intend to nominate as President of the European Commission for the period 2009-2014."

Apart from this little word "intend", this decision is a catastrophe for the European Union, as mentioned so many times before.

Taking a look at the rest of the conclusions, it is remarkable that among the quite intensive coverage of the financial crisis and possible measures to counter its effects, the financial situation in Latvia has been particularly highlighted (para. 13) - that is not a good sign.

Interesting is also the following sentence:

"32. The European Council welcomes the intention of the incoming Presidency to develop, in close cooperation with the Commission, a work programme to ensure that there is sufficient time for internal EU coordination and decision-making prior to important international meetings which will prepare the December Copenhagen Conference."

Does that mean that usually the presidency does not provide work plans that allow "sufficient time" for internal co-ordination?

And regarding the special declaration made for Ireland in the Annexes to the Conclusions one can only say that this is nothing but a clarification of the present Lisbon Treaty, that, no matter whether it has legal effects or not, will not change anything.

However, this Declaration is a confession of 27 heads of state and governments that the Lisbon Treaty is so unclear that it needs a special explanation so that the Treaty text can be put forward for a second vote in Ireland.

It is also an expression of the failure of the Irish government to explain the Treaty to its citizens and a sign of weekness of this government if it needs the backing for 26 member states to give these almost self-evident explanations enough political weight.

For the rest, the conclusions are not very interesting, and again written in a catastrophic bureaucratic way. I hope the Swedish Council presidency will have people that are able to formulate such texts more citizen-friendly!