Taking stock of his country’s track record as Presidency of the EU Council, José Luis Zapatero mentioned two of the main objectives his government had set: ensuring the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and achieving solid economic union to stimulate recovery. The Spanish prime minister, speaking at the European Parliament’s plenary in Strasbourg, on 6 July, announced: “We achieved our objectives”. The European Commission president and the heads of the political groups also participated in the debate. While the Socialists were in a congratulatory mood, Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Greens-EFA, France) and, to a lesser extent, Joseph Daul (EPP, France), were critical of the Presidency’s record and mentioned its failures, in particular the aborted summit with the United States.

Both Zapatero and Barroso began, almost as if presenting an excuse, by speaking of the difficult context of the Spanish EU Presidency: the economic crisis and the transitional period following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.

In spite of these obstacles, Zapatero welcomed the progress made during the last six months and the Commission chief paid “tribute to the Spanish Presidency”. Yet by mentioning only two priority objectives at the end of the Presidency, the Spanish prime minister clearly sought to distance himself from the failures of an initial programme that Alexander Lambsdorff, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), described as “ambitious”. The leader of the Liberals also voiced disappointment in the results, yet he tended to incriminate the member states rather than the Spanish Presidency.

In his defence, Zapatero assured that he had made every effort to “strengthen and reinforce the new EU institutions” that resulted in the creation of two new officials, a European Council president and a high representative for foreign affairs. On the External Action Service, S&D Group leader Martin Schulz highlighted the Spanish Presidency’s “decisive contribution” to the final phase of the negotiations. Zapatero also expressed satisfaction with the progress of the citizens’ initiative, another new treaty provision.

The Spanish prime minister went on to mention the “major advances” on economic governance, including the financial stability mechanism, progress on financial supervision and strengthening of the Stability and Growth Pact.

Cohn-Bendit expressed surprise. He criticised Zapatero’s self-satisfaction and the lack of investments in retriggering the economy. The ‘Europe 2020’ strategy was approved under the Spanish Presidency but will not have any impact if the seven flagship projects are not financed, he argued.

FAILED EU-US SUMMIT

Zapatero also welcomed the rapprochement between Latin American countries and the EU with the conclusion of several trade agreements under the Spanish Presidency. That did not mean he escaped criticisms over the fiasco of the EU-US summit. Daul said he was disappointed over the cancellation of the summit, calling it a “setback” and a “lost opportunity” to relaunch the transatlantic partnership. In contrast with that failure, the Spanish prime minister mentioned the successes of the Open Sky II agreement with the United States and progress on the SWIFT agreement.

On the latter point, Cohn-Bendit was fiercely critical of the agreement reached on 24 June. He mentioned one point in particular: the role of Europol. Under the accord, this intergovernmental police office will review the legitimacy of requests from the United States. This does not correspond to Parliament’s initial requests for scrutiny of such requests by a judicial institution, he argued.