Javier Solana and the Little Horn of Daniel 7
How Solana Emerged Among the Ten-Nation Western European Union and Rose from a Position of Limited Power
The Bible predicts that the Roman Empire will exist in the end times, just prior to the Second Coming of Christ. In Daniel 7, this empire is depicted as a beast with ten horns.
7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. (Daniel 7:7)12
The ten horns represent ten kings that will come out of the old Roman Empire. It is in context of these ten kings that the Antichrist rises to power.
8 While I was thinking about the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the previous horns were plucked out before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like human eyes, and a mouth uttering great boasts. (Daniel 7:8)
This part of the vision is particularly intriguing to Daniel, who wonders about the nature of these horns:
19 “Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three of the horns fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts, and which was larger in appearance than its associates. (Daniel 7:19-20)
Later, the angel interprets this for Daniel, saying:
24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will humble three kings. (Daniel 7:24)
Characteristics of the Little Horn
He emerges after the original ten nation coalition is in place, not before.
He starts off less powerful than the original ten but grows to be more powerful than all of them.
He rises to power among the group of ten, while they are still in existence.
In 1995, a military alliance called the Western European Union became 10 member states. As I discuss elsewhere, these are the ten kings described in Daniel 7 and Revelation 17.
Proposal for the EU High Representative Position
During negotiations on the upcoming Treaty of Amsterdam, the French delegation proposed the creation of a position called the European Union “High Representative.” This person would help the EU Council create, prepare, and implement decisions regarding the EU’s foreign and security policy:
The Secretary-General / High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy shall be appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States. He shall assist the Council in matters falling within the Common Foreign and Security Policy, in particular by contributing to the formulation, preparation, and implementation of policy decisions and, where appropriate, by acting on behalf of the Council and at the request of the Presidency, by conducting political dialogue with third parties.3 (translated by ChatGPT)
They submitted their detailed proposal for discussion on 06/06/96.4 Later in 1998, at the Vienna European Council, EU leaders agreed to appoint a person with a “strong political profile.” General report item number 666 detailed their opinion on the matter:
666. In December the Vienna European Council expressed the opinion that the Secretary-General of the Council and High Representative for the CFSP should be appointed as soon as possible and be a personality with a strong political profile...56
At the 1999 Cologne European Council, EU leaders appointed Javier Solana of Spain, then Secretary General of NATO, to the post of EU High Representative.78 Later that year, EU leaders appointed him as Secretary General of the 10-nation Western European Union alliance.9
As we will see below, this event meets all three criteria mentioned above for the emergence of the little horn mentioned in Daniel 7:8, as well as the angel’s interpretation.
Emerges after the ten-nation alliance was in place.
The EU High Representative was a brand-new position created by the Treaty of Amsterdam. Furthermore, the new EU High Representative, Javier Solana was also appointed the Secretary General of the 10-nation alliance four years after it had already reached ten members. Therefore, Solana fits the image of a new king who arises after the previous ten kings were already in place.
Furthermore, Solana was not one of the original ten kings. Though he was from Spain, he acted on behalf of the European Union, not Spain. Spain was still a voting member in the 10-nation group, despite Solana’s presence in the new EU position.10
An arrangement like this has been anticipated by Bible scholars and theologians, long before this happened.
“The angel stated that, after the ten nation confederation would be formed, an eleventh king would rise up.”
-Renald Showers, 198211
“He arises after ten horns have been set up…”
-Gleason Archer, 198512
“Earlier discussion has identified the ten horns of the fourth beast with ten kings from the fourth kingdom, that is, from the area of the old Roman Empire (v. 24; cf. Rev 13:1; 17:12). After they are in place, another king—the little horn of v. 8—arises…”
-Kenneth Barker, 199313
“Coming ‘after them’ signifies that the empire will already have been formed by the first ten kings when Antichrist rises to his position of dominance over them.”
-Stephen Miller, 199414
“The coming Antichrist is the little horn of Daniel 7. He will come on the scene after the ten kings of the revived Roman Empire are on the scene.”
-Gary R. Gromacki, 201715
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He starts off less powerful than the original ten.
The fact that the vision depicts this new ruler as a little horn indicates that he will start off with less power than the original ten.
“so the eleventh king initially would have less power than the ten kings, because he would begin his rise to power after they would be established in their positions of rule”
-Renald Showers, 198216
“‘Little’ indicates only that this horn started small, as it gradually emerged among the grown horns, not that it remained small; for the context, especially verse twenty, shows that it finally became the greatest of all.”
-Leon Wood, 197317
“Another horn, a little one represents a king from the fourth kingdom who starts small in power but becomes dominant. It appears that this king takes power gradually sometime yet in the future, in the revived Roman Empire.”
Michael Rydelnik, 201418
This describes Javier Solana’s emergence very accurately. The legal language in the Treaty of Amsterdam itself only grants a supporting role to the EU High Representative.
The Secretary-General of the Council, High Representative for the common foreign and security policy, shall assist the Council in matters coming within the scope of the common foreign and security policy, in particular through contributing to the formulation, preparation and implementation of policy decisions, and, when appropriate and acting on behalf of the Council at the request of the Presidency, through conducting political dialogue with third parties.19
In fact, the Treaty says that the Presidency would represent the EU to the outside world, not the High Representative:
1. The Presidency shall represent the Union in matters coming within the common foreign and security policy.20
(By Presidency, it is not referring to a single EU President. Instead, it refers to the country who chairs the Council of the European Union every six months.)2122
All this goes to show that the High Representative initially only had a supporting role. It did not take the lead on foreign policy as it later did, especially in the area of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.23
Political analysts agreed with this assessment. For example, Brian Crowe worked under Solana until 2002.24 In an article, he stated that:
…the HR’s treaty role is only to assist the presidency; in other words, he has no authority of his own.25
An academic work, “The Principal Agent Model in the European Union,” talks of Solana’s weakness:
In order to ensure some degree of continuity, the rotating Presidency was assisted by the institutionally weak High Representative for the CFSP. While the office holder Javier Solana was generally seen to make the most of the little powers he held, it depended on the nature of the job or the mercy of the rotating Presidency to what extent he could influence foreign policy.26
When commenting on his career in EUObserver, columnist Honor Mahoney notes:
He is generally well-regarded for having been able to give some weight to the post despite not having much power and without having stepped on member states' toes, who fiercely guard their national sovereignty in this area.27
All this goes to show that Javier Solana, in his new role as High Representative, did not have much power relative to the other ten countries in the WEU.
EU High Representative Rose to Power Among the Group of Ten
The EU High Representative was an EU position, making it part of the revived Roman Empire. Furthermore, as Secretary General of the WEU, he came up “among” the ten kings without being one of original ten.
Since he would rise up “among” the ten kings (7:8), it appears that he would belong to the ten-nation confederation.”
-Renald Showers, 198228
These ten are not ten kings in a series. Rather, they reign simultaneously. Furthermore, since the little horn comes up among the ten, the ten kings are contemporaries with the little horn.
“The word for ‘among them’ (benehewn) means literally ‘between them,’ indicating further that the other horns were all contemporary, not successive. This means that the new horn must symbolize another king, like the others, only emerging later, though while they still rule.”
-Leon Wood, 197329
This little horn is contemporaneous with the ten others and arises from among them. The Roman beast, ruler of the end time, will arise from the midst of the ten-nation confederacy and command the whole coalition.
Charles Feinberg, 198130
Summary
Solana was appointed Secretary after the ten-nation alliance was in place but had less power than them. This strongly fits the image of a little horn that comes up among ten larger horns. However, he does not stay little forever. He later becomes “larger in appearance” than his colleagues (Daniel 7:20).
But before he becomes the largest of them all, he must humble three kings during his rise to power. In a forthcoming article, I will detail how Javier Solana did exactly that.
All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible. 2020 ed. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 2020.
“In the NASB, italics are used to communicate to the reader words that are not found in the original language but are implied in the original language or are needed for a complete thought in English” https://www.lockman.org/new-american-standard-bible-nasb/about-nasb-2020/
Unless otherwise noted, all bolded text within quotations reflects my own emphasis and does not appear in the original source.
Renald E. Showers, The Most High God: Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Bellmawr, NJ: Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1982), Da 7:15–27.
Archer, Gleason L. Jr. 1985. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 7. Edited by Frank E. Gabelein. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. (p. 93)
Miller, Stephen B.. Daniel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary Book 18) (p. 217). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Renald E. Showers, The Most High God: Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Bellmawr, NJ: Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1982), Da 7:15–27.
Wood, Leon J. 1973. A Commentary on Daniel. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers. (p. 187)
Michael A. Rydelnik, “Daniel,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), Kindle ed., 3232–33.
The Principal Agent Model and the European Union. Germany: Springer International Publishing, 2017. (p. 111) https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Principal_Agent_Model_and_the_Europe/mH86DwAAQBAJ?hl=en
Mahony, Honor. “EU Top Diplomat to Step down in Autumn.” EUobserver. July 6, 2009. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://euobserver.com/news/28417.
Renald E. Showers, The Most High God: Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Bellmawr, NJ: Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1982), Da 7:15–27.
Wood, Leon J. 1973. A Commentary on Daniel. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers. (p. 187)
Feinberg, Charles L. 1981. Daniel: The Kingdom of the Lord. Winona Lake, Indiana: BMH Books. (p. 93)