A controversial essay by incoming Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama was welcomed in a personal letter yesterday by José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, as representing ‘the converging views between your vision for Japan and the new political guidelines for the next commission’.

Certainly, the text contains a few pointers that will flatter European readers. It begins by quoting the French Republican motto, “liberté, égalité, fraternité”, continues by citing the EU as a model for East Asia, and concludes with an excerpt from Count Coudenhove-Kalergi’s ‘Pan-Europa’, the manifesto for a united Europe that was written 85 years ago.

So what is this vision of which Barroso apparently approves? Much of Hatoyama’s piece deals with the decline of US hegemony in Asia, including the authority of the Washington Consensus; in its place he calls for “policies that regenerate the ties that bring people together, that take greater account of nature and the environment, that rebuild welfare and medical systems, that provide better education and child-rearing support, and that address wealth disparities.” He also proclaims the end of “the era of US-led globalism” and the beginnings of “an era of multipolarity”.

Oddly, I’m not sure in how much of that Barroso believes. I find it difficult to imagine the convener of the ‘coalition of the willing’ in the Azores in 2003 celebrating the demise American unilateralism, and I’m not sure he wants to increase public spending or redistribute income either. So what motivated Barroso to step into the Hatoyama controversy?

One theory is that Barroso’s endorsement was aimed at critics in the European Parliament, which today voted him back for a second term as Commission president. There are parts of Mr. Hatoyama’s essay that read far more like something Daniel Cohn-Bendit or Martin Schulz would have written (for example that we need to end ‘unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism’). Barroso’s support was therefore aimed at making himself more palatable to opponents among European socialists and liberals.

Another theory is that Mr. Barroso is really thinking of his legacy, and international support from leaders such as Mr. Hatoyama will be important for that. Mr. Hatoyama has shown a preference for achieving stricter carbon emissions targets, tightening financial regulation and strengthening multilateral institutions, and these are in the work plan for the next Commission.  While there is some doubt whether Mr. Hatoyama really intended to create an international debate (which he certainly did in Washington DC), it would have been impolite of Brussels not to have expressed an interested receptivity.