Jeremy Rifkin is in today's Guardian with another article about the European Union.
The Iraq crisis has united Europeans and armed them with a clear sense of shared values and future vision. Millions have taken to the streets in the largest unified public protests in European history. People from every political persuasion, from every demographic category and from the entire rainbow of ethnic persuasions, joined together to condemn the unilateral policy of the Bush White House in Iraq and, by so doing, provided the first dramatic expression of a new European identity.
What we are witnessing is historic. Europeans are finding their identity. That is not to say that the millions of people who are beginning to speak as one suddenly identify with the European Union. I doubt whether a single protester sees himself or herself, first and foremost, as a citizen of the EU. While Brussels is far from most people's minds, what unites Europeans is their repudiation of the geopolitics of the 20th century and their eagerness to embrace a new "biosphere politics" in the 21st century.
The real test, then, is whether the EU member nations can create a military presence sufficient to keep the peace and a unified foreign policy sufficient to speak on behalf of the European people. The European rapid reaction force, a 60,000-strong EU army, is scheduled to become operational in May. Its mission is threefold: to assist civilians threatened by crises outside the EU; to respond to UN calls for peacekeeping; and to intervene to separate warring factions. The new force is supposed to serve as something more than a police function, but less than a traditional army. It is a new kind of military designed to keep the peace rather than to make war. Whether it will be credible enough to ensure Europeans a measure of security in an increasingly volatile and unstable world is still very much in doubt.
A unified currency and a single trading market will not be enough to unite Europeans. The new sense of Europeanness that has emerged from the traumatic events of the past few months represents an opportunity. Now, the question is whether this nascent sense of European identity can find an institutional home in the European Union.
8:27:40 PM 
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