Sarkozy's amour propre
The hyper president was hyped up for his news conference at the end of the French presidency of the European Council. The summit he said would "go down in history".
President Sarkozy of France - but for a few days yet not of France alone - had praise for other leaders. Gordon Brown he said was "an extremely constructive European". The Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was "brave". But he saved the strongest praise for, well, himself.
He said, with an enormous grin, that it was obvious the changes that would be introduced by the Lisbon Treaty were needed: especially a full-time president of the Council. "Nobody today would doubt the need for a President of the Council showing real leadership." Pause for an even bigger grin. "Not just for six months, but for two and a half years."
There were of course four big issues to be covered in the news conference. Climate change. Lisbon. The economy. And just how well Mr Sarkozy had done in his six-month presidency.
He said that Europe had to stop getting bogged down in daft rules, and suggested strongly that it would take someone like him to make this advance.
He gave a long example about how he wanted his minister in one of yesterday's meeting but was told the seating arrangements wouldn't allow it. So he suggested bringing in another chair. He was told that wasn't possible, it was revolutionary. So he said he would get the chair himself. It showed that in the EU people could spend hours arguing about an extra chair. He said that Europe needed an injection of flexibility and freedom.
But he went on to complain about the endless repetition of speeches. He said after last night's discussions on the economy over dinner he had banned anyone from trying to repeat themselves this morning. Rather contradicting his earlier remarks, he said "we can't work without specific rules in place". Next week he'll give his final speech of the French Presidency to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. I am sure he will be as modest as ever.
PS - I've run out of green ink again, but will go shopping at the weekend.
I’m Mark Mardell, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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