The EU is firmly convinced that multilateralism is the key to continued world peace and stability. We will do all we can to preserve and strengthen our multilateral institutions of global governance. The future of our transatlantic relationship lies at the heart of global politics. Our ability to tackle global problems will crucially depend on whether the US and the EU are in basic agreement with each other.

Prodi seas before him a "New Europe". A Community of diverse nations and peoples with · a sense of shared identity, · a common vision and purpose, · and the will to achieve agreed goals together.

These goals are getting more and more global. That's why..

We should develop the "New Europe" into a fully-fledged global player in world affairs alongside the US. The "New Europe" should become an effective and more equal partner of the United States in global leadership. At the same time it is imperative that the United States does not renegue [return] on its international commitments.

On the hot issues of the moment like the Kyoto protocol and the US withdrawal from its commitments to global warming he says :

The European Union sees climate change as a central issue in international politics today. We all have a responsibility towards future generations. The science is indisputably convincing and global issues require a global response.
The United States is responsible for the largest share (25%) of total world carbon dioxide emissions, and it has a moral responsibility to act to curb emissions.
We will not accept US attempts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol, which has resulted from over ten years of international negotiations.
I am glad that President Bush has started reconsidering his position. I very much hope he will engage constructively on this issue of primary importance for the future of our globe. The European Union has accepted this challenge and is prepared to go ahead with profound structural changes in our economies to integrate sustainability into all our policies.

And on the US Shield he is more cautious:

US ideas for building up missile defence shields require careful analysis and consensus building. New missile defence systems have wide implications affecting strategic stability, the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and the defence doctrine as well as issues of technical and financial feasibility. I therefore very much welcome President Bush's recent offer to begin close consultation on these questions.

Because the EU foreign policy is still to fragmented he purposes to get Solana and his function into the Commission.

In practical terms this would mean integrating the position of the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy into the Commission. Such a step will not be possible without building a very broad consensus. This will not happen overnight. One would hope it could happen more quickly, but this is the price we must be prepared to pay for democracy. The High Representative also needs to be strengthened so that he or she can play a much more effective role in bringing about coherent and result oriented policies.

Prodi's second important message is therefore building on the "New Europe" as he calls it.

Pages of history are being turned by Prodi.

We are putting behind us, forever, our old divisions and the wars they generated. We are creating a peaceful Europe in which the peoples of this continent can live together in safety. A free, democratic Europe where human rights are respected and the rule of law prevails. We are reuniting our European family of nations.

'Reuniting' means in this context the joining of the east European countries in the EU. And in "The enlarged European Union..."

The enlarged Union cannot be run in the way we have run Europe until now. Our institutions and procedures were designed to manage a Community of six Member States.

The question is, what to do now?

But we have reached a point where the step-by-step approach towards an undefined goal will work no longer. It is time for us all to face the ultimate question of what the Union is aiming for.

So what are the pages of debate that are being offered by Prodi.

There are important questions to be addressed in this debate: the question of "competencies"; the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; how to simplify the Treaties and what role national Parliaments should play in the EU.
But the debate must go beyond that.
It is time to ask ourselves the fundamental question of what sort of Union we want.
What is the ultimate goal of our European project?

More pages of history will be turned with Prodi.

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