Upgrading EC strategic choice capacities

The EC faces difficult strategic choices which constitute fuzzy gambles with history. Available capacities, however successful in the past, are inadequate for meeting new challenges. Required are upgrading in political will, realistic visions, policy cogitation, and implementation. Operational recommendations include: preserving and strengthening the authority of the Commission; changing voting rules in the Council, while avoiding membership increases until this is accomplished; building up coherent economic, internal, and external relations-security decision processes; encouraging utopian thinking on EC futures; strengthening coherent policy making by fortifying the Commission Presidency; installation of crisis decision making modalities; reinforcing implementation consideration, monitoring and facilitation; intensive training of high-level Commission staff in strategic choice analysis; establishment of an EC Policy College; and setting up a central EC Think Tank together with improvement of pluralistic EC policy R&D. Since the future is shaped by necessity, chance and choice, upgraded strategic choice does not guarantee the desired effects, but is imperative in terms of both morality and effectiveness.