By the end of the British presidency of the EU, just 34 per cent of Britons supported their country's European membership. Only one nation emerged as more Eurosceptical—Austria, which has now taken over the presidency.
With Austrians suspicious about EU enlargement and its consequences for jobs, alarmed at efforts to liberalise the market in services and hostile to Turkish accession negotiations, Austria's centre-right chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, will find himself boxed in. Austrian elections are due in the autumn and Schüssel will put domestic politics first. In the spring, EU states must decide whether to continue labour market curbs on the workers from the former communist nations that joined the EU in 2004. Austria intends to extend the restrictions for a further three years on the basis that, although low, its unemployment is rising.
Another hot topic is the services directive, the liberalising measure that provoked hysterical fears in France of an invasion of Polish plumbers. Since his electorate is even nearer to Poland that that of France, Schüssel is unlikely to give the directive his full support.
But the Austrian chancellor's main task is to sort out some way forward on the European constitution, the ratification of which was paused last June for a 12-month period of reflection. Since then, Schüssel believes, we have seen a lot of pause but not much reflection. He plans more consultation, including a seminar in Salzburg entitled the Sound of Europe, accompanied by a lavish celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday and a concert conducted by Riccardo Muti. The idea is to give the impression of reviving the constitution without taking any decisions. Schüssel thinks that nothing much can be done in any case before the French presidential elections in May 2007. But decisions on European institutions cannot be delayed beyond 2009 because the Nice treaty does not cater for the admission of Croatia (the treaty caps the number of European commissioners at 27). It is within this 18-month window that the fate of the text will be determined.
Because of a fundamental spending review won by Tony Blair at December's EU summit, 2009 will also be the year when EU leaders decide to what extent to recast the EU budget. Such a coincidence has prompted calls for everything to be considered together in that year. That would give the EU leaders some breathing space to concentrate on bread and butter issues like promoting economic growth and, in Schüssel's case, winning an election.
Schüssel tastes his own medicine
This is not Schüssel's first time in the EU hotseat. In 1998, during the last Austrian presidency, he was a bow tie-wearing foreign minister and vice- chancellor in a rancorous coalition dominated by Social Democrats. That alliance ended when Schüssel's centre-right party went into government with Jörg Haider's far-right FPO, becoming the object of political sanctions from the EU in 2000. Since then Schüssel has adopted more standard neckwear and Haider has quit the FPO to form a rival party, the BZO (which is still part of the Schüssel coalition).
Old hands still remember how Schüssel spent much of the EU presidency undermining Austria's telegenic but vacuous chancellor, Viktor Klima. And when the 2006 Austrian presidency was launched, Hubert Gorbach, the current (BZO) vice-chancellor, gave Schüssel a taste of his own medicine. While Schüssel was publicly being noncommittal about the future of the EU constitution, Gorbach told foreign journalists that the document was dead.
Lithuanian directness
As one would expect of a former martial arts black belt, the Lithuanian budget commissioner, Dalia Grybauskaite, is not afraid to throw her weight around. Used to staid, boring and excessively polite meetings, some commissioners have been surprised by her disregard for diplomatic niceties. At one gathering, Grybauskaite told the assembled gathering that she was not used to being lied to by her colleagues. Sharp intake of breath all round.
Even Blair has not been spared a dose of Lithuanian brusqueness. As commissioner responsible for the EU budget, Grybauskaite was introduced to him at the start of the British presidency last year. This round of ritual handshaking is usually accompanied by smiles and warm words but Britain was, at that time, the main obstacle to a deal on the budget for 2007-13. "No excuses Mr Blair," said Grybauskaite dispensing with all pretence of cordiality. "Just do it."
Too many commissioners
In Brussels the need for reform is becoming ever clearer, as 25 commissioners and their staff jockey for position with an ever-lighter agenda. All commission cabinets are the same size to keep up the fiction that, for example, the fisheries commissioner is as busy and important as his colleague in charge of competition. That means quite a few people sitting around with nothing to do but office politics.
For those with work to do the system is more cumbersome than ever. Working on industrial policy, for example, the commission vice-president, Günter Verheugen, finds himself liaising with no fewer than ten cabinets with some sort of policy interest. As many as 14 need to be consulted over tourism.
Now that they can see for themselves how sclerotic the system has become, several new member states are ready to drop the automatic right to appoint a commissioner that featured in previous discussions. But how many commissioners does Brussels need? No more than 12, says one senior figure.
