BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – The European Union’s 27 member states are deadlocked over a constitution, while enlargement has shifted into low gear and support for an ever-more unified Europe is declining.

Yet, in its 50th anniversary year, the union appears to be gaining more influence on the international stage – with its voice being heeded everywhere from the Middle East to Africa to South-east Asia.

Analysts say the rise in EU’s diplomatic clout is largely rooted with the decline of influence of the US, which is militarily bogged down in Iraq and distrusted over the Bush administration’s perceived unilateralist policies.

The EU is striving to use its policy of “soft power” which aims to slowly, gingerly win allies through aid, trade and diplomacy.

“We are witnessing a redefinition of the international system,” said Dominique Moisi of the French Institute for International Relations. “There is less America in the world. Therefore there is a call for more Europe.”

“The EU enjoys the advantage of being viewed as an example to others – a continent that has been able to bury its past, its conflicts and nationalisms since World War II,” Moisi said. “But although the world is calling, it remains to be seen whether Europe is ready to respond because we face so many of our own problems.”

But some experts questioned whether Europe would be able to keep up the momentum, especially since two key players – France and Britain – are entering a year of political transition that will see the installation of new leaders.

“We’ve seen a surge in the role of the EU, but now there will likely be a period of hesitancy,” said Julianne Smith, a specialist on trans-Atlantic relations in the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC.

Europe’s exploitation of “soft power” was born from the realisation early this decade that in world affairs the EU had been punching far below its economic, political and military weight.

The new policy initiated under Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, employs the EU’s entire political arsenal – economic aid, diplomacy, trade, technical cooperation, military and police resources – as leverage to bring wayward regimes to order.

Since 9/11 made the war on terror Washington’s main foreign policy priority, the EU has quietly been engaged in a number of high-profile efforts to solve regional conflicts around the world – with varying degrees of success.

In the aftermath of the Israeli attack on southern Lebanon last fall, European nations took the lead in beefing up the UN force there, expanding it from 2,000 to about 12,000 peacekeepers. Washington sent no troops to the force.

In December, 200 EU-led peace monitors ended their year-long mission in Indonesia’s Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, after overseeing a deal that ended 30 years of fighting between government troops and separatist rebels.

The success of the peace process in a region where the EU has traditionally wielded little influence has boosted the bloc’s credibility, positioning it as an alternative to the US, which has historically been a dominant force in South-east Asia.

And last month, the EU began withdrawing its 2,400 peacekeepers from Congo, after the country held its first democratic elections in nearly four decades. The EU contingent provided backup for a 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force that ended a series of wars in which up to three million Congolese perished. The US contribution was limited to relatively minor logistical support.