Finland’s six-month presidency of the European Union has been pretty unremarkable in most ways. But I will miss Erkki Tuomioja, the Finnish foreign minister – who has been thrust into the spotlight as the chairman of all the EU’s foreign policy deliberations over the past six months.

I first came across him when I was doing a TV interview outside an EU summit a couple of years ago. As I was standing on the BBC’s gantry, I noticed an unkempt figure, with a straggly beard, a rucksack and a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament badge in his lapel. I was a little alarmed by this, and was hoping that somebody from security would turn up and move him on. But then it turned out that he was the other guest – and, in fact, Finland’s foreign minister. He has made a striking chairman of the EU’s foreign affairs council.

As for the European summit, which is the nominal reason for my presence in Brussels. It’s a bits-and-pieces occasion. The EU has managed to avert a major crisis over Turkey’s bid to join the EU, by cooking up one of its traditional half-baked compromises, which successfully pushes the problem a few months down the road. There is a bit of discussion about the Balkan countries’ prospects of joining the EU – not too great, in the medium-term at least. And a half-hearted row about what the EU should do about Russia banning Polish food imports.

<p>But something historic is happening all the same. And that is the entry of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU – as the 26th and 27th members of the Union – which will happen on January 1st. There was a little ceremony, at which EU leaders stood over a giant jigsaw of Europe – and put the Bulgarian and Rumanian pieces into place. Like many Brussels events, it was simultaneously kitschy, and oddly touching. And it was a reminder – that for all the angst over Turkey and the Balkans – the process of European unity is rolling forward. In fact it has made the most astonishing progress over the last 12 years. As recently as 1995, the EU had just 12 members – now it has 27.

<p>But as Europe unites, Belgium is threatening to break up. On Wednesday night French-speaking television in Belgium played a fantastic hoax on its viewers.

RTBF broadcast a fake news bulletin, announcing the break-up of the Belgian state. The broadcast announced that Flanders, the richer Dutch-speaking bit of Belgium, had declared independence and that the Belgian royal family had fled to Kinshasa, capital of the former Belgian Congo.

Like all good hoaxes, this one was just plausible enough to sound credible. Indeed polls suggest that nine out of ten viewers, initially believed it – despite the artful television captions, containing oblique references to Magritte, the famous Belgian surrealist painter. Now order has been restored, and Belgian politicians are huffing and puffing about irresponsible broadcasters.

The gradual disintegration of Belgium, the host country of the EU, provides an ironic counterpoint to the gradual unification of Europe. And perhaps a warning, as well.

December 15th, 2006 in EU | Permalink