 Well, the first thing should be said is that you think 28 sovereign states. How do they manage to agree? The answer is they agree on an enormous amount And on things that you wouldn't expect them to agree on we've been operating a serious policy on Kosovo Which has brought remarkably positive effects in spite of the fact that Five out of the 28 don't actually recognize Kosovo So not only is it possible to agree it's even possible to agree on issues when you disagree And when you do that it can be extremely productive the fact that you've got 28 Sovereign states behind a single issue and a single position And they can agree on it. It's got to be reasonable. It's got to be a very powerful statement in the world Well, of course one weakness is sometimes we don't always agree And sometimes we don't have good answers anyway There's a tendency to assume that somewhere there is a magic solution to tragic events like there are like in Syria at the moment, for example But I think over the years a big weakness in the European Union has been the fact that it didn't have machinery for executing policy We had an enormous success surprising success in 1973 at the Helsinki conference when we took a position different from the USA and sustained it and Actually produced what is now called basket three of Helsinki human contacts basket That was a European primarily a European goal achieved by Europe But over the years we had we could do that at a conference, but we didn't have machinery for following things up So in the 1990s when we were confronted with the tragic events in the Balkans Even if we had agreed and we didn't we didn't have we were incapable of actually being operational in the Balkans Since then that's changed. We have the machinery that the machinery is still rather new And it's not yet in perfect working order But the potential of the European Union is greater than ever now The record is to say the least mixed Sometimes I feel that it's like a When a very large planet comes by the gravitational field tends to pull the EU apart So it's the EU is not very good at dealing with China Some member states have got very powerful national trade interests in China and everybody rushes off to try and sell things there The EU has got much better at dealing with With Russia And I think for example what the Commission is doing looking at the gas prom and the gas market Is very important the EU has become more united in its dealings with Russia And the greatest power of all the USA. Well, it's fine when we agree with the USA But when the US is going in the direction that some member states don't like that was the case over Iraq It's extremely difficult for the European Union to keep together. I think if we had worked together better in Iraq And personally, I believe that we could have done that. I believe we could have constructed a united position If we had done that, I think it could have had a profound effect I think it would have been very difficult for the USA to have embarked on Iraq campaign with every European country Saying not we're against but saying let the inspections run all the way Let's let the IEA do its job first. Let's not Let's not move too quickly. I think that could have been I think that could have made a big difference So on the on the question of dealing with superpowers, I think the answer is it's work in progress