Crises have a nasty way of exposing pretensions. On paper at least, the countries of the European Union agreed back in 1993 to share a common foreign policy. For good measure, they decided in 1999, by then 15-strong, to share aspects of defence as well. Many EU countries want to go even further. At a convention on Europe's future now being held in Brussels, the German government, for example, says that a single European diplomatic service should replace national ones: au revoir to the Quai d'Orsay; farewell to King Charles Street. Many conventioneers want the EU'S future foreign policy decided by majority votes among EU governments. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the convention's president, wants the Union to have its own foreign minister-and he is viewed in Brussels as fairly cautious, as architects of Europe go. Even Britain's Tony Blair has said that he wants Europe to be a "superpower" (though "not a superstate").
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