成人快手

Czechs and balances

• Mark Mardell
• 16 Dec 08, 01:35 PM

STRASBOURG 1330

President Sarkozy has called it an "outrage" and a "wound" that the president of the Czech Republic doesn't want EU flags flying from public buildings. The order caused a spat when a delegation from the European Parliament came visiting Prague Castle.

The trip was apparently , with the Greens MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit, that old student radical from 1968, verbally attacking President Vaclav Klaus. They were hardly likely to be big buddies: Mr Klaus is seen not only as an outspoken opponent of the EU and the Lisbon Treaty, but he also dismisses mainstream beliefs about climate change, calling the legislation that the EU is so proud of "a silly luxury".

Mr Sarkozy was responding in the European Parliament to the UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who said that the delegation should have shown respect to a head of state rather than behave like thugs and bullies. Mr Sarkozy suggested respect should be shown by Mr Klaus as well.

This didn't protect the French president from the wrath of Mr Cohn-Bendit, who has apparently decided to make attacking heads of state his new trademark. Pointing his finger, he said America's president-elect would say "No, you can't", because the climate change legislation didn't go far enough.

Mr Sarkozy, rather mildly for him, responded in effect that the Green MEP always seemed such a nice man when they had agreeable lunches together, but turned into a different fellow altogether when the TV cameras were switched on.

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EU 'spirit of compromise'

• Mark Mardell
• 16 Dec 08, 01:18 PM

STRASBOURG 1030

"Europe turned up."

President Sarkozy was talking about the Georgian crisis, but it was the message of his whole speech - that the world needed Europe to be strong, and a strong Europe had to be united. After his speech the leaders of the political groups had their say.

Much of the French president's speech was pretty standard fare of course for speeches to the European Parliament - stress the need for Europe, and need for unity. It's what most here believe and want to hear.

He placed the blame for the financial crisis squarely on the shoulders of the American government: he said it began when they accepted the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. He also boasted that despite the difficulty of coordinating a response by the 27 countries with very different economic and political cultures, despite the misunderstandings and hesitations, Europe had got the response right. He said that the US had belatedly followed with a solution "based entirely on our plans".

He said there had to be a "re-moralisation" of capitalism, based on entrepreneurship, not speculation.

He told MEPs that when he first visited Dublin he had caused a fuss by saying the Irish would have to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty, but that is what a "courageous" Irish government had now decided. He said this wasn't easy for the Irish people, but Europe was about "a spirit of compromise" and this was what was being displayed. He predicted Lisbon would come into force, just a year late.

He concluded by saying Europe had to be built with the will of the nation states and labelled what he called "integrationalism" as an historic error. He'd enjoyed himself a lot, and the last six months had taught him a great deal. "Europe is the most beautiful invention of the twentieth century, Europe has moved me, it has changed me."

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Sarkozy's big EU ambitions

• Mark Mardell
• 16 Dec 08, 09:20 AM

On 1 July the French took over Europe with fanfare and flummery, the Eiffel Tower was bathed in blue, the EU's gold stars projected on this symbol of France.

And President Nicolas Sarkozy, the new President of the Council, proceeded to impose his frenetic style on an organisation used to a more leisurely pace. Today he is giving a final speech in this role to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. I doubt he will manage undue modesty.

Last week's summit of the EU's prime ministers and presidents ended in what Mr Sarkozy, at least, regarded as an historic triumph, with deals on climate change, the economy and the Lisbon Treaty.

The presidency can be a rather weak excuse for a few "informal" meetings in the country holding the presidency, with a few pet ideas shoved on top of whatever is the main business of the day. This was dramatically different.

There's no doubt Mr Sarkozy put his stamp on the presidency in a way that few manage, behaving as if he was indeed the President of Europe.

The veteran French Socialist Jack Lang told me he didn't always agree with Mr Sarkozy, but during his presidency he "gave a personality to Europe. He gave a feeling that Europe had a political existence. From an international point of view he gave presence to Europe".

Just as some unlikely leaders come to the fore in wartime so Mr Sarkozy seemed well-suited to our crisis-ridden times. But did his success really amount to very much?

The Irish No vote to the Lisbon Treaty was certainly seen as a crisis by the EU leadership, although it might not have bothered anyone else that much. Then there was the Russian invasion of Georgia. Within days Mr Sarkozy was in Tbilisi negotiating a ceasefire, then in Moscow signing it. Many felt it was deeply flawed, and ignored some crucial details. If so, it was typical of his style: restless action rather than careful analysis.

He called the first emergency summit since the Iraq crisis, to discuss the aftermath of the war. It wasn't to be his last.

One adviser told me this was an example of Mr Sarkozy's stubbornness paying off. Failure was not an option. Restless energy was. He called an emergency summit in Paris. It failed. He called another one. It was slightly better. He called an emergency EU summit. A bit more agreement. He travelled to Washington. He travelled to Beijing.

Ulrika Guerot of the European Council for Foreign Relations says "it may not be the best way of doing business, because you can make the reproach he looks like the king of Europe, it's an imperial way of doing the business of Europe.

"But with respect to the financial crisis he was the driving force for bringing together the G20 in a very short time, and he will be judged a success beyond his personal temper."

She forcefully makes the point that in the Georgian crisis and the financial crisis it was Europe making the running, not the United States. For some that is enough in itself. That is what really excites those who want the EU to play a bigger role in the world.

But this high-wire, high-risk summitry has infuriated Germany's leader Angela Merkel. When she was in the hot seat, conjuring the Lisbon Treaty out of the wreck of the European Constitution, she worked meticulously to discover each nation's hang-ups and hopes and carefully wrought a delicate compromise. Mr Sarkozy announces an idea, which often comes as a surprise to his diplomats and civil servants, let alone other leaders... and waits to see if it will fly.

Lord Patten, the former Conservative Party chairman and former EU Commissioner for External Relations, told me "While they both hate the comparison, the young Sarkozy is a bit like Chirac when he was a young prime minister - he was known as the bulldozer and he was known for his energy, his ubiquity and the way he got his own way simply by steamrollering or bulldozing things through, and I think there are aspects of that in Mr Sarkozy. It may or may not be the best way of doing business in France, but I have my doubts in Europe, which requires more continuity. But it has been a style and I suspect that after six months of the next presidency we might be looking forward to the smack of charisma again."

There were tentative suggestions from the French press and indeed Mr Sarkozy himself that there should be a way for him to continue his role, perhaps as leader of the Eurozone countries. This will formally come to nothing, but I bet one of the arguments we hear more of, perhaps today, is that his success and style proves the need for a full-time President of the Council, as proposed in the Lisbon Treaty.

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