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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was on an official visit to Israel, said Monday that his "greatest desire" is to see Israel join the European Union.

He wasn’t the first to think of that idea. Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief said last year that his organization's ties with Israel are stronger than those with candidate country Croatia:

 

“There is no country outside the European continent that has this type of relationship that Israel has with the European Union.

 

"Israel, allow me to say, is member of the European Union without being a member of the institution. It's a member of all the programs of the union, and participates in all of them. And I'd like to emphasize and underline, with a very big, thick line [that Israel participates] in [helping us deal] with all the problems of research and technology, which are very important."

 

"I am sorry to say, but I don't see the president of Croatia here," Solana continued, referring to Stjepan Mesic, who is also attended the three-day conference.

 

"His country is a candidate for the European Union, but your relation today with the European Union is stronger than [our] relation to Croatia.”

 

The EU and Israel have committed themselves to establishing a partnership which provides for close political and mutually beneficial trade and investment relations together with economic, social, financial, civil scientific, technological and cultural cooperation. The Action Plan concluded with Israel has an objective to gradually integrate Israel into European policies and programs. Every step taken is determined by both sides. There is also a financial assistance element to EU-Israel cooperation - Israel is eligible for €14 million in European Community financial cooperation over the next seven years.

 

Seventy five percent of Israelis are interested in joining the European Union, according to a survey undertaken by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Israel. Quite a few leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Silvan Shalom, Avigdor Lieberman and others, are also talking about Israel joining the EU in the future. Meanwhile, some in Europe itself, including Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and the Transnational Radial Party in the EU parliament, are engaged in a campaign for fullfledged Israeli membership.

 

However, the support for the notion of Israel joining the EU completely ignores the possible contradiction between Israel's essence as the Jewish State and the Jewish people's country, and the basic idea the EU is premised on turning the continent into an open ,united space, devoid of internal borders, where there is no significant difference between the citizens of member states. The fact that Israel is a democratic, liberal country where humanistic universal values are part of the local spirit (although some may argue otherwise) does not change the Jewish State's reality and aspirations.

 

Israel is defined as a Jewish State and the Jewish people's country, which is radically different than other countries. This essential difference could prevent it from joining the EU, even if it were invited to join it. On the other hand, for a majority of Israel’s population, renouncing its uniqueness is akin to abandoning Israel's "raison d'etat".

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I have my doubts regarding the Lisbon Treaty and its non- democratic natue and of course the common currency, the Euro, is a big problem beside the Lisbon treaty but as I wrote in 11 Big Surprises for The Next Decade, and in The Euro Crisis- Budget Cuts Are Doomed To Fail, I don’t expect the Euro to stay for much longer.