Agood compromise, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told his parliament after chairing last week's European Union summit in Berlin, is one which causes pain to everyone.
By that yardstick, the compromise he thrashed out last week with his EU counterparts must have been a bad one. Some countries, particularly newly wealthy Ireland, did leave Berlin licking serious wounds. But most came away from the night's haggling over the once-ambitious Agenda 2000 reforms with a few surface scratches and generous financial balm to help ease any minor discomfort.
The official spin on the result was that EU spending had been 'stabilised', opening the way for 'enlargement' to include new countries in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. The EU had proved itself able to act decisively in a time of international crisis and internal constitutional turmoil. Mr Schroeder, meanwhile, had proved his credentials as a statesman.
Certainly, the early, unanimous decision to install the Italian Romano Prodi as the new president of the Brussels Executive Commission, after the embarrassment of the previous scandal-tainted Commission's resignation was a token of the summit's seriousness and effectiveness. So, too, was the agreement, after four years of tough negotiation, on a ground-breaking, 16 billion euro (about HK$133.56 billion) free-trade agreement with South Africa.
The fact decisions on reform were taken at all was a sign of strength, given the depth of disagreement among the 15 members.
Yet the compromise will also have made enlargement more expensive, making it almost inconceivable that Eastern European economies with large, inefficient agricultural sectors and a desperate need for regional aid will be ready to join before 2007.
