It was not meant to be like this

Hi teachers,

Excerpts:

Not since the 1930s have international poltics been in such flux. Rising states such as China, India, Turkey, and Brazil, as well as a newly assertive Russia, are challenging the old democracies as never before. But rather than use its growing Union to assert itself, Europe has failed to convert the EU into a serious foreign-policy player - and looks increasingly irrelevant. Brussels recently had to cancel the annual EU-U.S summit due for Madrid next month when President Barack Obama decided to skip the empty photo call. Obama is flying to Europe shortly, but to meet with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague. For the first time since Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter in 1941, the concept of a common Euro-Atlantic world view seems empty, even quaint.

It was not meant to be like this. The Lisbon Treaty creating a new EU constitution was ratified amid great fanfare last fall after a decade-long wrangle. The treaty is full of grand language on a common foreign policy, which was supposed to be executed by the holders of two new posts: a president of the European Council and a foreign minister. But it isn't working.

1. Could you please tell me what does "It was not meant to be like this" mean?

2. Does "its" refer to "Europe" here?

3. What does "empty" mean here?

Thank you very much.

Tinanam