Last Thursday’s European Union heads of government summit in Brussels elicited little excitement in the media—nor, it appears, among the national leaders in attendance, for whom the World Cup apparently provided a welcome distraction. Though Luxembourg’s prime minister defended the summit, saying “it doesn’t have to be exciting,” the Polish leader compared it to a collective “nap” and the Czech president described the summit as “word games.” The big achievement at the end of the day was a decision to discuss the European Constitution for another two years.

Perhaps this summit was a reflection of the general mood in Europe currently. The people are just more interested in other things. The EU is not giving them what they want—more prosperity, more freedom, more power. The EU as an institution has become bogged down in bureaucracy and stalemate. Some analysts have given up on it having a future.

There is someone, however, who has a clear vision on how to change that.

Edmund Stoiber is a man the Trumpet has pointed to on a number of occasions as someone to watch when it comes to the future leadership of Europe. At present, Stoiber is the minister president of Germany’s largest and most prosperous state, Bavaria, and leader of the Christian Social Union, sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. In his period of premiership in Bavaria, since 1993, the state has become Germany’s most economically vibrant state, boasting low unemployment figures and healthy industry.

Stoiber recently wrote an article for Europe’s World, the sole Europe-wide policy journal, which offers a forum for policymakers and opinion-formers across Europe to present their opinions on key issues. In the Summer 2006 edition of this European policy journal, Stoiber outlined what he sees as some of the EU’s problems and how they can be fixed (the article also appeared on EUobserver.com on June 14).

“The European Union is growing dynamically,” wrote Stoiber. “Yet the EU’s acceptance by its citizens is declining”—as demonstrated by the EU constitution referenda in France and the Netherlands as well as opinion polls throughout Europe. Apart from concerns about the pace of enlargement, Stoiber said “increasing regulation and bureaucracy from Brussels is playing a significant part in this sense of malaise” (emphasis ours throughout).

Stoiber sees himself as being at the vanguard to “lead the fight against unnecessary red tape.”

The specific course of action he calls for is the establishment of a means of protecting the subsidiarity principle—defined as “the principle under which the EU should only act when it is better able to achieve a goal than member states.”

Examples of policy areas that Stoiber said should primarily be national or regional responsibilities are flood protection, environmental noise and urban development. Why? Stoiber described the EU’s Flora, Fauna, Habitat directive and the amended directive on bird protection, for example, as being “the objects of severe criticism by citizens at local level.” Stoiber wants to strip the EU of the cumbersome responsibility of unpopular policy decisions and throw it back on national governments.

At first glance, this may sound like a move away from federalization, a move back to the autonomy of the nation state, a decline in EU control.

But such policy proposals, in fact, may lead to the very opposite—and evidently are intended to.

The principle follows, then, that in those policy areas where the EU can better achieve a goal than member states, it should have the authority to act. Stoiber’s “subsidiarity” principle, in fact, “reinforces the capacity to act of those at higher decision-making levels because they can then focus on core tasks.” One could assume he is talking about such “core tasks” as defense, immigration, security, economy.

It is clear Stoiber’s goal is two-fold:

1) He wants to stir up popular support for the institution of the EU. “Strict observance of the subsidiarity principle and improvements in EU-level legislation are crucial to reinvigorating citizens’ acceptance of the European project,” Stoiber wrote. He sees this being achieved by ridding the system of much expensive and cumbersome bureaucratic red tape—and unpopular decisions on minor matters of policy—and thereby increasing the economic benefits to member states and individual citizens. Simplification of EU regulations would promote economic growth and employment, according to Stoiber.

Stoiber also proposed greater national debate of EU policies and projects. “I believe that to do so would represent an important contribution to winning back EU citizens’ trust.” And of course, as Stoiber knows, an EU citizenship happy with the way the Union is being run—happy that it stays out of their country’s business on the minor matters, and which is prepared to get member states’ input—will be much more likely to be cooperative on the more major decisions.

2) Stoiber wants to streamline the EU—to free up the EU government mechanism to concentrate on the big issues. After all, how much does environmental noise or bird protection really impact Europe’s place in the world? There are far more important strategic issues the EU needs to focus on. As we wrote on Oct. 3, 2005, “For the Union to survive, it must simplify its cumbersome bureaucracy. … Expect Europe to streamline its legislative process in order to robustly respond to the more pressing matters troubling the world.” This is exactly what Stoiber proposes: He wants Europe to “introduce a comprehensive simplification of EU rules.”

Stoiber outlined how Gunter Verheugen, the European commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, hailing from Germany, said that if EU regulation was simplified, bureaucracy costs could be cut by 25 percent. “And now the new federal government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel is also focusing on de-bureaucratization and de-regulation as an important priority.” Stoiber said his home state of Bavaria had “already achieved some conspicuous successes by abolishing areas of state law that had become redundant.”

Germany is leading the way in pushing for EU reform. Stoiber said Bavaria intends to submit proposals for simplifying one major area of contention involving agricultural reform. Bavaria also “intends to participate itself in regulatory impact assessment by making its own contribution to important EU projects. Germany’s Länder [states] are already responsible for the enforcement and, to some degree, the legislative transposition of EU regulation.” And likely, if Stoiber has his way, Germany will be responsible for a whole lot more change in the EU’s decision-making processes.

Watch Edmund Stoiber continue to push the EU project—and Germany’s place in it. He is a man who could well fulfill key biblical prophecies for Germany and Europe.