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Forum Paper Title: The Union's role in global
governance & the human rights dimensions of sustainable development - The
EU and the right to water (abstract) *
Description of Forum Paper:
Since the turn of the millennium, the Union's international
profile, or lack thereof, has grown ever more conspicuous. The EU has gained
unprecedented global attention for its external policies and responses, such as
the forthcoming and grandest wave of EU enlargement and the simmering rows with
the US on trade issues, but also for its internal activities and developments,
most notably the drafting of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
and the much-publicised surrounding debates. At the same time, the diverging
reactions of the EU Member States to the veritable thunderclap of our time,
'9/11', and the ensuing botched efforts to forge a minimal consensus amongst
them on the conduct of the 'war against terror', in particular the conflict in
Iraq, have fomented the arguments of those casting doubt on the EU's potential
to build a strong foreign policy. Moreover, the EU's credibility as a
meaningful polity on the world stage and as a counterweight to the US power has
been challenged. While neo-conservative critics, notably Kagan, have exposed
and promoted the emergence of a transatlantic rift, liberal commentators and
key members of the EU political elite, such as Chris Patten, have arguably
entrenched it, articulating it in their own terms. Their view is that the EU's
potential leadership role in international affairs is already being gradually
realised and can be further enhanced through its approach to the so-called
'softer issues' of international governance, especially those involving human
rights and environmental concerns. The claim is that the EU and its Member
States have begun to positively assert Europe's international identity on a now
familiar roll-call of issues - the Kyoto Protocol, the International Criminal
Court and also the UN conferences on anti-racism and sustainable development
held in South Africa in 2001 and 2002 respectively. This claim is the starting
point of my research project at the Jean Monnet Center.
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