In his capacity as president of the European Council, Charles Michel’s aim has been to make a name for himself in high-level international mediation in the Caucasus – a questionable activity that has brought no results yet.
The main remit of the president of the European Council is to organise EU summits. Of course, nothing prevents him from taking diplomatic initiatives.
Michel might be fascinated by the Caucasus, or perhaps he just likes a challenge, but the fact is that he has engaged in mediation in Georgian domestic affairs, and also in conciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
These are possibly the two toughest conundrums in the EU’s neighborhood, aside from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
High-level diplomacy in a flamboyant high-level style is a thing of the distant past. To be effective, modern diplomacy works quietly and almost secretly.
According to the Lisbon Treaty, “the president of the European Council shall, at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy”.
It’s up to the European External Action Service (EEAS) to oversee the EU’s soft power. When the work is done, EEAS can invite the Council president to chair ceremonies and sign documents.
Experienced diplomats say that before a breakthrough is announced at the highest level, sherpas need to clear huge territories strewn with all kinds of figurative landmines, ambushes, and booby traps.
Michel, however, takes the opposite approach: He courageously takes the bull by the horns. It’s an attractive stunt, but at the end of the day, what really counts is the result.
Some say Michel got the helm of the European Council largely because EU leaders trust Belgium for its culture of mediation: The art of managing the conflicting interests of the Flemish and the Walloons.
After the Lisbon Treaty came into force, there have been three presidents of the European Council so far, Michel being the second Belgian, after Herman van Rompuy.
It cannot be denied that Michel has become popular in the Caucasus.
In 2021, he visited Georgia three times in five months.
In Tbilisi everybody knows him. In Michel’s native Belgium I have neighbours in Uccle who haven’t heard of him, although some remember his father, Louis Michel, a famous Belgian politician who also served as a European commissioner.
But in Georgia’s coastal city of Batumi, taxi drivers asked me sharp questions about Charles Michel’s efforts to mediate between the ruling party and the opposition. I said I wasn’t optimistic. Years have passed since this episode, and Georgia is still stuck in a political impasse.
Michel’s mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been equally time-consuming and so far, equally unsuccessful.
Between March and July 2023 Michel met with the leaders of the two Caucasus foes three times and held one teleconference with them. We don’t know all the details, but the latest news sounds pessimistic: The prime minister of Armenia said a war with Azerbaijan is “very likely”.
With Turkey, Charles Michel has also made openings that could also be described as self-styled diplomacy.
In a puzzling meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Michel recently vowed to “re-energise” Turkey’s EU future, although a couple of hours before, the European Commission in Brussels rejected Ankara’s request to unfreeze EU accession talks in exchange for greenlighting Sweden’s accession into NATO.
Michel has obviously trespassed into the Commission’s territory because the EU accession talks – or their deep-freeze, as is the case with Turkey – is the remit of the EU executive.
Maybe this is why Erdoğan relegated Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to the divan during that memorable visit to Ankara that came to be known as ‘sofa gate’.
Von der Leyen makes no secret of her exasperation with Michel. The EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has had a more laissez-faire attitude. This is all fine: such hiccups don’t prevent the EU from functioning.
In March 2022, the Council re-elected Michel for a second term of two and a half years. Next year, his post will be up for grabs, together with the remaining EU top jobs, which are distributed according to the political balance resulting from the European elections, plus gender considerations.
Let’s be optimistic and wish Michel success with his initiatives before his term expires. But whoever takes over from Michel will need to take stock of the lessons learned. The Council president’s role is clearly formulated and high-level international mediation is clearly absent from the legal texts.
Michel will be only 49 when he becomes available for another top job. Who knows, of all the international organisations, which one will want to make use of his self-styled diplomacy?
Today’s edition is powered by Chemours
Fluorochemistries: building blocks of modern society
Fluorinated chemistry is critical for Europe’s green and digital transition. However, wider industry adoption of cleaner energy solutions won’t be possible without the right innovations in chemistry.
Find out more >>
The Roundup
Following an inconclusive election in Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez must decide “quickly” whether he wants to join a coalition with the “extremes” or with “centrists”, a high-ranking European People’s Party (EPP) source told EURACTIV in the aftermath of Sunday’s vote.
Factory workers and labourers call for furlough as five people in Italy are believed to have died because of extreme heat, reports The Guardian, EURACTIV’s media partner.
A wildfire which has been raging on the Greek island of Rhodes for five days forced hundreds of people to flee affected villages and beaches by land and sea on Saturday, authorities said.
Check out this week’s Agrifood Podcast, the last one before the holidays, which takes you through what is coming up after the summer break.
Look out for…
- Informal meeting of competitiveness ministers (Internal market and industry) on Monday-Tuesday.
- Commissioner Stella Kyriakides participates in Informal meeting of health ministers organised by Spanish Presidency in Las Palmas on Tuesday.
Views are the author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
