The IKEA guide to Lisbon

The EU should heed the insights of IKEA’s founder while it sets up its diplomatic corps.

When EU leaders bought the Lisbon treaty last year, they may have believed they had acquired a hi-tech gadget that could be painlessly plugged into the Brussels framework. Instead, they have found that they had bought the bureaucratic equivalent of an IKEA flat-pack table. Like all IKEA products, the treaty is very clever in theory, but comes in a thousand pieces with an incomprehensible instruction booklet. Put it together wrong, and it will fall apart tomorrow.

So while European pundits like to quote Jean Monnet, they might do well to turn to the wisdom of IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kamprad. EU leaders would do well to remind themselves of the mistakes usually made when assembling IKEA products.

The first mistake is to ignore the instructions. The drafters of the Lisbon treaty had a design in mind: an EU that could more effectively use the different resources and assets at its disposal. For instance, when the EU deals with a country such as Egypt, they did not want trade issues to be dealt with in isolation from human rights, politics, aid or military matters. Or for the EU to invest heavily in post-conflict capabilities, but neglect the task of conflict prevention.

Yet in the discussions about the details of the External Action Service the designers’ intent is being deliberately overlooked. Instead of ensuring that resources for conflict prevention, civilian reconstruction and military intervention are institutionally integrated, EU member states are keeping the various resources separate. For its part, the European Commission has demanded that its resources for conflict-handling also be kept separate. But it is exactly this unwieldy divide between the Commission and the secretariat of the Council of Ministers that undermines EU policy towards fragile and failing states.

Another common mistake in DIY is leaving one or two key vital elements out of the construction. There is evidence of this, too, in the creation of the EU’s diplomatic corps. Up to now the European Development Fund and Development Co-operation Instrument, with roughly €8 billion per year, have been managed exclusively by the Commission. Article 208 of the Lisbon treaty states that Europe’s development policy “shall be conducted within the framework of the principles and objectives of the Union’s external action”. Respecting the designers’ intent would mean ensuring that development experts are as much part of the EU’s external action service as European diplomats, and that the EU’s high representative for foreign and security matters and the European commissioner for development allocate the EU’s resources together. But there is no final agreement on this, yet.

Finally, there is nothing more disappointing than having assembled a new piece of furniture to find that it does not last or that it does not go with the room. To avoid this, the whole set-up should be reviewed in couple of years’ time to judge its effectiveness. Even better, High Representative Catherine Ashton could begin a review of one or two areas, for example the EU’s crisis management and peace-building capabilities, to ensure that the best structure is created.

Even when you have decided to assemble something yourself it is worth listening to the professionals. In “A Furniture Dealer’s Testament”, the IKEA founder writes: “a manager who divides his resources will invariably be defeated.” This is sage advice. EU decision-makers should staff the EU’s diplomatic service according to its priorities. Right now, the existing structures reflect past priorities, rather than the EU’s declared aims. The EU should put its resources into three priority areas: the EU’s neighbourhood; crisis management and peace-building capabilities; and emerging powers like China and India, coupled with strengthened representation at international organisations. That is where it does need additional expertise.

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Only those who are asleep make no mistakes, said Kamprad. EU DIYers will undoubtedly make mistakes as they construct the Lisbon structure. But familiarising themselves with the most common mistakes like the dangers of ignoring the designers blueprint should help European governments avoid the biggest mishaps.

Franziska Brantner MEP is the spokesperson on foreign affairs for the Greens / European Free Alliance grouping in the European Parliament. Daniel Korski is a senior policy fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations.