Is this race for who will become the EU's new foreign minister real? Or, is it just another example of the old good cop bad cop ploy?

The Convention is over and it's being said a delicate compromise was reached in the power struggle over who will control the new, super EU. Most observers see this power struggle between the EU's smaller member states and the EU's larger member states.

The stickiest issue is the new EU presidency. Most of the larger states want a longer term president within the Council. However, since this means doing away with the current six-month rotating presidency, most of the smaller states are against this idea. Besides believing a long term president within the Council would give too much power to the larger states, the smaller states all love their turn in the spot light. 

However, it's my view the new foreign minister called for in the EU's new constitution should be an equally sticky issue. This is because, as far as foreign policy is concerned, this new foreign minister could become more powerful than the new president. But, for some strange reason this isn't the case. On both sides of this power struggle there appears to be almost total agreement on the new foreign minister proposal. 

The word is two powerful personalities are competing for this important job -- German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and EU High Representative Javier Solana. However, I suspect the decision has already been made.

You see, whoever gets this job will have to be able to work well with NATO and Washington. And Fischer recently angered Washington to the core by opposing the United States and Britain in the UN Security Council over the Iraqi war. On the other hand, Solana recently pleased Washington to the core with his new security doctrine that called for preserving the important Atlantic Alliance.

Now it's being reported Fischer is warning the smaller EU states not to tamper with the new constitution. And, he's also calling for a stronger European military  -- which in his opinion strengthens the Atlantic Alliance (Read about it here)    (And here).

This is what I think: I think we may be seeing the good cop bad cop ploy being used on Washington. Fischer is the bad cop, and Solana is the good cop.

And the choice has already been made.