Former Dutch prime-minister (2002-2010), Professor Jan-Peter Balkenende addressed students of the Master Class Europe in Practice in a closed session on March 23rd. In a gesture appreciated by the students, he took questions first and then, instead of giving a formal lecture, proceeded to address the various issues raised.

Answering a question on standing alone in the European Council, Professor Balkenede took us back to his fist EC meeting, where he was armed with a parliamentary mandate to stabilize CAP expenditure. Unfortunately, buttressed by an agreement between Chirac and Schroeder, the tenure of the meeting was towards an increase.

During the first session, he learned that the German delegation was not 100% behind the Franco-German position and this stiffened his resolve to inform Rasmussen, the Danish chair, that the Dutch would, if necessary, have to resist an agreement – partly because he felt that the pre-cooked agreement was the wrong way to approach problems and partly because his own position was weak towards the Dutch parliament. Rasmussen then approached the French, who softened their stance and then, the Germans swung their position behind the Dutch, and this allowed him to secure his position.

Professor Balkenende admitted that this was unusal, especially since it had been his first Council. There had been room for maneuver and he had been fortunate in the coalition of alliances. Yet he suggested several lessons from the incident:
- If you are going to block do so in an atmosphere of friendship
- Be careful to use good arguments
- Be selective in the issues you use (and this also depends on the domestic position)
- Always know how far you can push an issue

Relaxed, in shirt sleeves and happy to take questions and comments, Professor Balkenede proceeded to give a veritable masterclass on European summit diplomacy. The discussion ranged accross the ‘no’ vote on the draft European Constitution, the situation in Greece, the French proposal in 2010 for ‘economic government’, the issue of Turkish membership and how the Dutch presidency tried and succeeded in opening membership negotiations and, finally, the question of bargaining inside cabinet. Afterwards he joined everyone for informal discussion at the ‘borrel’.