I've been thinking about this since Javier Solana spoke those words. Solana said, in the area of foreign policy, his new office of EU Foreign Minister was replacing the rotating Presidency system Read about it here  I  And here  I  And here. Even for me, someone who has written a book about the possibility of such an event, this is startling news.

You see, the EU has two Presidents. One is in the Commission and is appointed by the EU heads. The other is in the Council where the 25 EU heads take turns every six months. Well, first the Commission Presidency was sidelined, now the rotating Presidency has been sidelined. And, in both cases, it was Solana who so brilliantly managed the sidelining.

It started in 1991 when Western leaders decided the Europeans should play a bigger role in their own defense. This lead to NATO's so-called "European Security and Defense Identity."

In 1995, this new idea would be taken farther by Jaiver Solana when he was appointed the new head of NATO. Part of Solana's mandate was to restructure NATO to make Europe's defense wing possible. He divided NATO into two Strategic Commands, one in Virginia and one in Brussels. In other words, Solana split NATO down the middle -- half for the US, half for Europe.

When Solana's term at NATO ended in 1999, the EU leaders had new offices waiting for him. Solana would become the EU's first High Representative of Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. And to keep their own defense identity alive, Solana was also made the Secretary General of the Western European Union (WEU). In other words, Solana was placed in charge of the 10 European NATO nations.

In 2000, Solana and the French EU Presidency, moved the command structures of the WEU into the Council of Europe. This lead some to say the EU was absorbing the WEU. But, as I write in my book, in reality just the opposite was occurring. I thought Solana and the WEU nations were absorbing the EU.

Now it's 2004 and it looks like I was right. On July 1, speaking before a group of Asian nations, Solana said  he was the one who was going to be in charge of the EU's foreign and security affairs -- not the EU Commission or the EU Presidency.

So, did ten nations just finish taking control of the EU? I think they may have.

Call it Solana's incredible EU takeover.