Talk about setting the stage: The day before Javier Solana presented his new security doctrine to the EU heads at their June summit, the Mercury News posted an article titled, EU Struggling to Find One Voice.

Interestingly, I found a link to this article at the Web site of the Centre for European Reform (Go to it here). Why is this interesting to me? Because, the CER is a think tank that appears to always be promoting the views of Javier Solana.

Evidently, the CER posted a link to this article because one of their own -- Steven Everts -- was quoted in it. Everts, you may recall, was recently the co-author of a $10,000 winning essay suggesting that the EU's entire foreign policy be placed under Solana (Read about it here). 

Here's what Everts had to say:

"Across Europe, people in the center and center-left increasingly are seeing EU integration as a way of moderating U.S. power, said Steven Everts, the transatlantic specialist for the Centre for European Reform in London. "This is significant. It is not the only factor in whether one joins the union, but how you deal with American power is an important one" (Read about it here).

As I said before, the next day, on June 19th, Solana presented his security doctrine to the EU heads. It was titled, A Secure Europe in a Better World. 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.

The instant the EU heads heard Solana's plan, they all loved it. Their common foreign policy was in complete shambles. Now, suddenly, a man appeared with a solution.

Like I said, the stage had been set.