Imagine the Berlaymont late at night. A full moon hangs in the sky. High up in the building, an office lamp still shines. It illuminates four people. They are sprawled comfortably in armchairs for an intimate conversation. The four lead the EU on international affairs. They are Commission President José Manuel Barroso, two of his commissioners - Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Louis Michel - and High Representative Javier Solana. Their topic is the new European political landscape, following the arrival in office of President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the June 2007 agreement on the new 'Reform Treaty'.

This quartet believes that, if the EU can profit from the new leadership and streamlined institutions, it will gain renewed vision and energy for its external action... 

This article was published in the Bulletin of the Centre for European Reform.  To read the full text of the report, follow this link - http://www.cer.org.uk/articles/55_maxwell.html