The most amazing thing is happening. Just last week, the fragile world order lay fractured and nobody knew what to do about it. Now, suddenly, a man may have appeared with a solution.

Here was the problem: The Iraqi war was threatening to turn old friends into new enemies. Some EU member states -- such as Germany, France and Belgium -- strongly and openly opposed America going to war in Iraq. Others -- such as Britain, Spain and Portugal -- fully supported the war. Then there were all the remaining EU nations, on both sides of the Iraqi issue, who also had strong feelings but stayed out of the fight.

To make matters worse, an unusual heat wave awaited the EU heads when they gathered in Greece for their important June summit. At this summit the EU heads would be tackling the most difficult and controversial issues over what shape their new, super EU would take. 

This was the setting for the EU's High Representative, Javier Solana, to present his 10-page document. It was titled, "A Secure Europe in a Better World." And, it's goal was to give the EU a new foreign policy that would achieve what its name implied (Read about it here).

Solana's plan had three basic parts. First, it called for the EU to contribute more resources to establishing economic and political stability in their neighborhood. Second, it called on the EU to build an international order. And third, it called for the EU to strengthen its civil and military capacity to deal with the threat of weapons of mass destruction and rogue states.

 There was nothing really surprising about Solana's plan. What was surprising was the way everybody loved it. France loved it because it would created a multipolar world to counter American dominance. Germany loved it because it would build an international order. Britain, Spain, Portugal and the 10 new EU members loved it because it stressed the importance of maintaining good relations with America and the Atlantic alliance. Even the United States liked this part.

Another thing that interests me about this is the timing. Solana couldn't have delivered his proposal at a better time. As I mentioned before, the EU heads were discussing the blueprint for their new EU. And, part of this blueprint called for a much more powerful EU foreign minister who will have a seat in the Council next to the heads of state. Not only that, this new foreign minister will also have the authority to sign treaties for the EU. In other words, as far as foreign policy goes, whoever holds this new foreign minister post could end up being more powerful than even the new EU president.

Like I said, just last week the fragile world order lay fractured and nobody knew what to do about it. Now, suddenly, a man may have appeared with a solution.

If I were looking for a foreign minister, I know who I'd choose.