A return to normalcy
Normal life, if the European Convention discussing Europe's future can be deemed to be normal life, is carrying on in Brussels.
Deep European divisions have failed to derail long-running efforts to reshape the European Union and make it a fit place in which the citizens of 25 or more member states can live.
The convention, bringing together 105 national government ministers, Euro-MPs and academics, is due to produce its final proposals in June on how to improve decision-making in Europe, cut impenetrable red tape and bring the EU closer to its citizens.
It may finish on time or it may run over, but the fact that it is carrying on as if nothing else is happening in the world is a sure sign that Europe's political crisis, damaging though it has been, will not last for ever.
Will the European Union be a casualty of the war against Iraq? Emphatically not, said Ireland's foreign minister Brian Cowen, passing through Brussels last week. "Some commentators see Europe as irretrievably torn asunder," he said. "I do not see it that way."
But the fact that he raised the notion at all shows what shape we are in.
At NATO headquarters later the same day, secretary-general Lord Robertson was at pains to point out that, yes, there may have been differences, but they were not irreconcilable. The EU, NATO and the Americans were now working together in pursuit of their "common interests."
And down at the convention, meeting a couple of days a week in Brussels for as long as it takes, conventioners were playing through pages and pages of proposals, amendments and counterproposals to put to an intergovernmental conference later this year - the "IGC" format that brings EU leaders together in treaty-changing mode.
So, business as usual then, except that the citizens of Europe are not listening. Cowen is deeply concerned that one of the main aspects of the convention's work - reconnecting with the public - is not getting through to those very people.
Certainly in a time of war there is little consumer appetite for news of "double-hatting" EU presidents, rotating presidencies, a qualified majority voting on justice and home affairs issues and enhanced co-decision-making between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. But then, there is little consumer appetite for such things in peacetime either.
But the fact that these cozy European consultations are going on at all is enough to signal that the world is still spinning on its axis. "It is timely to be reminded that the Union is immensely significant in the real lives of its citizens and in the world beyond," Cowen said. "It crucially depends on the will and commitment of the member states and of the peoples of Europe."
Then Cowen cast a black cloud, pointing out that Ireland, which takes over the EU presidency for the first half of next year, would feel privileged to play host to the conclusions of the intergovernmental conference if it goes on that long.
A gasp went thorough his audience: surely the whole thing will be completed before next year? Please!
Cowen went on, saying that the idea of adding the convention format to the range of EU institutions as a permanent consultation body wasn't a bad one either.
And if his audience - the insiders, those "in the loop" as he called them - feel this might be a bureaucratic structure too long and too far, imagine how real people, living real lives, think about the prospect.
If they think about it at all, which is where we came in.
Geoff Meade is the European Union editor of the Press Association.
