The stances taken by the European Union on various Arab issues reveal the weak cohesiveness of European positions and the absence of a unified, strong and effective European diplomatic effort. If we examine the hot-issue items in the Arab world, we find the EU suffering from a lack of active diplomacy that can help in the solutions to the region’s problems. These days, the crisis between Libya and the EU is experiencing high tension, and we see, for example, European impotence with regard to what has happened between Switzerland and the family of Colonel Qaddhafi. Switzerland is not in the EU, but it falls under the Schengen Agreement, which allows movement among a large number of EU countries. After Swiss authorities detained Qaddhafi’s son Hannibal, for mistreatment and flouting Swiss laws, and after Libya detained two Swiss businessmen, then let one of them go, Switzerland has banned, via the Schengen Agreement, the movement of all members of the Colonel’s family from obtaining visas for Europe. Libya has taken similar steps, but applied them to all EU member countries, except for the United Kingdom, which is not a part of Schengen, and Italy, with which it has strong economic and political ties, and which has exited the European consensus for its own reasons. This week, the Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, the foreign minister of Spain (which currently heads the EU) headed to Libya to find a solution to the problem, which is having a negative effect on European economic interests. Europe, which should have tolerated the Libyan measures in solidarity with Switzerland, because it has enforced its laws that respect the rights of its citizens, acted impetuously instead of asking the Colonel to re-evaluate the granting of EU citizens entry visas to guarantee their economic interests, and especially since the UK and the Untied States do not fall under these measures, meaning that Libya treats the businessmen of these two countries preferentially.

In fact, there are some hidden criticisms by a number of European states of Switzerland, because it did not inform them beforehand about its decision to ban the members of Colonel Qaddhafi’s family to obtain entry visas for Schengen countries. Switzerland took a legal step toward a foreign citizen who did not respect its laws, then following the detention of its citizens in Libya. It was a legal and natural step to take, and Libyans should respect the country where they find themselves, whether it is the Colonel’s son or anyone else. However, Qaddhafi’s son earlier faced the same problems in France and other European countries. These were dealt with out of the spotlight and Hannibal left the countries without any punishment, for political reasons. What kind of European solidarity allows, for example, that laws are enforced on some people while officials are exempt, and fails to support Switzerland’s just stance when its citizens are detained?

The other issue in which weak European diplomacy appears is in punishing Israel’s decision to continue building settlements, which are condemned by the EU and the European Parliament in all of their statements. However, when it comes time for this European principle of rejecting settlements to take shape, Europe is absent. France rejects the ban of sales of settlement products on its territory, while it wants to be the hero of the return of a peace track of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. How can there be trust in European stances if they resemble America’s bias toward Israel and its refusal to see it punished for its illegal acts?

Another area that raises the issue of weak European diplomacy on Arab issues is the relationship with Syria. All of the European states hurried to extricate Syria from its isolation as France took the lead, on the pretext that Syria had adhered to what France has requested of it. However, Syria did not demarcate its borders with Lebanon, solve the question of Lebanese detainees in Syria or help the reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. It announced its strong and strategic alliance with Iran and Hizbullah to the world. Despite the French openness, Syria affirmed to France that the primary role in mediation on the peace track between it and Israel should be Turkey, and not France. How effective can European diplomacy be? It lacks solidarity, unity and a specific orientation on issues in which it can play a more effective role if its policies were more in line with the principles of true democracies, and not based on calculations of economic interests or a history of feeling guilty about Jews and Israel.