EU moet niet meer denken in termen van 'na het Sovjet-tijdperk' (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU remains in post Soviet-era strategic thinking and has yet to adapt itself to the new threats posed by terrorism and radicalised Islamic ideology, according to Portugal's foreign minister.

Giving a preview of his country's priorities when it takes over the EU presidency on 1 July, Luis Amado on Tuesday (15 May) at a meeting of NGO Friends of Europe indicated Lisbon will shift the political focus of the bloc towards euro-Mediterranean and African countries, which he said were the origin of many of these new challenges.

"I think we need to understand that the strategic environment has changed after the 9/11 events," said the minister referring to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in 2001.

He added that the bloc is still working in a "post-Soviet era," with much of the focus on Europe's borders to the east.

Instead, said Mr Amado, the EU should find the same "strategic vision and leadership" that it used to keep peace in its eastern neighbourhood after the disintegration of the Soviet empire - which eventually resulted in the EU taking on eight new member states from the region - in a new focus beyond Europe's southern borders.

"This strategic cycle is ending," he said of the bloc's eastern focus noting that extreme poverty and fractured states crippled by organised crime are contributing to an "escalation in resentment" and "growing radicalism" in some African and euro-Mediterranean countries.

Portugal's wish to re-align the EU's approach to an area that affects it geographically is not new for a presidency-in-waiting.

The current German presidency is focused very much on eastern Europe, while the previous Finnish presidency made much of its physical nearness to Russia.

However, Mr Amado denied that the shift in the focus to the south would be a flash-in-the-pan strategy, changing when central-European Slovenia takes over the presidency at the beginning of next year.

While admitting that southern European member states are more "sensitive" to relations with Africa, he suggested that problems emanating from the region will keep Europe busy for years to come.

On top of this, France is likely to push a similar agenda when it takes over the bloc's presidency in the second half of 2008.

Shortly after winning the French presidential elections on 6 May, Nicolas Sarkozy said there should be a "Mediterranean Union" linking Europe and Africa and that the countries involved should have regular summits.

However, several other issues are likely to crowd Portugal's agenda meaning that its southern impetus could get overwhelmed.

It is likely to have to organise an intergovernmental conference on a new treaty for the EU, while the status of the UN-administered province of Kosovo will loom high during Lisbon's time at the EU helm, as will Turkey's uncertain relations with the bloc.