Excursion Berlin - Council Presidency

90% mandatory, 10% optional - opportunities for the
German EU Council Presidency 2007

In the first half of 2007, the Federal Republic of Germany will take over the EU Council Presidency. In mid-July 2006, the participants of the seminar "Preparing for the German EU Council Presidency" by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schroeder (Chair of the System of the Federal Republic of Germany / Statehood in Transition, University of Kassel) set off for Berlin to gain an insight into the preparations for this important event for German domestic policy in expert discussions. "If you deal with practical politics academically, it's not enough to sit at the university in Kassel and read texts. In order to understand connections and backgrounds and to uncover contradictions, you have to talk to the actors involved on site," says Professor Schroeder about the excursion he led.

The aim of this project was to find out what priorities the German government wants to set during its Council Presidency. The students therefore sought discussions with experts from the "Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik" (SWP), the Chancellery, the Federal Foreign Office, the Bundestag, the SPD and CDU as well as the DBG and BDI and with a journalist from DIE ZEIT. The Kassel students were surprised to see that the SPD and CDU are very close to each other on European policy issues, while there are significantly greater differences between the DGB and BDI.

A Council presidency, as became clear in each of the discussions, is more than just an "extensive ceremony", which is why it comes as no surprise that the first strategic discussions on preparations by the German government began in late summer 2005. All interlocutors agreed that the government's national scope for action is rather limited. Around 90% of the Presidency's implementation consists of the continuation of existing programs and the European Commission's specifications, while only 10% can be described as "freestyle", which Germany can add its own touches to. Of this 10%, however, at least 5% is determined by day-to-day political events.

Initially, all ministries make proposals for the "freestyle" part. The official program is then determined by the Chancellery, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Economics in cooperation with the Commission. Although this program will only be presented at a cabinet meeting on 11 October 2006, a number of priorities are already emerging: energy policy, education and research policy as well as considerations on strengthening the social dimension of Europe are at the heart of Germany's interests. The German Council Presidency has also been tasked with presenting a report on the status of ratification of the Constitutional Treaty during its term of office. As France will be in the presidential election campaign or in the process of forming a government during the German Council Presidency, it is unlikely that any progress can be made in this area.

The expert discussions naturally also focused on the current state of the EU. As a result, we learned a lot about how the major controversies of recent years - i.e. the war in Iraq, the failed referendums on the Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands, the enlargement issue and the Lisbon Strategy - are currently being assessed. It was striking that the experts interviewed did not define these problems as simply a profound crisis of the EU, as is the case in the media. Instead, they see these conflicts as an opportunity for greater European capacity to act. After all, with 25 members and a completely changed global political situation, the EU must now be seen through a different lens than at the time of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. If the EU wants to strengthen itself in this situation, it needs constructive conflict. In this sense, the German Council Presidency can be seen as one of many small cogs that keep the European "construction site" running. The Kassel students will continue to follow the course of events in order to find out to what extent the Council Presidency can steer Europe. Of course, they also want to know whether and how the Federal Republic of Germany is in a position to contribute to the further development of the EU. In the non-election year 2007, this could also become an explosive and exciting domestic political issue.

"I was very satisfied with our excursion: the students and I learned a lot that we would not have found out from reading academic texts alone," Professor Schroeder commented on the excursion and continued: "I will continue to give students the opportunity to come into contact with political practitioners in my seminars so that they have the opportunity to apply the theories from the academic literature in practice."

Dorothea Keudel/Arijana Neumann

Kassel, 30.7.2006