The French heralded the news to the world by lighting up the Eiffel Tower in the blue and gold colors of the "European flag". President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared on national television, received EU top officials, and in the evening of July 1 gave a traditional grand banquet for all the members of the European Commission, the EU's chief executive body. The keynote of President Sarkozy's "inaugural" speeches was that he had come to the European Union in order to save it from all its woes and restore French leadership lost in the later years of Jacques Chirac's presidency.
In the light of such messianic ardor the remaining members of the club of 27 countries have to brace themselves for the 6 months of surprises the hyperactive French President plans to spring on them. On the one hand, the EU leaders are of course glad that for six months Europe will be guided by such a dedicated and dynamic pro-European, but on the other hand, they are somewhat worried about Super Sarko's Napoleonic ambitions and the fact that he may "break a lot of china" in a bid to secure European grandeur for himself and for France.
Sarkozy's presidency plays into the hands of Russia because he is a convinced champion of an early new cooperation treaty between Brussels and Moscow and an active advocate of our accession to the WTO.
That Sarkozy means business is seen from the fact that he has secured 200 million euros of French taxpayers' money to finance "his" EU presidency. None of his predecessors received as much for the technical and protocol expenses connected with EU presidentship.
From the point of view of European bureaucrats six months is a very short time, and only a few countries have managed to achieve truly spectacular results on their watch. On the other hand, EU presidentship is no mere formality, as some may think. Whatever leader gets this post tries at least to make his mark. Sarkozy has every chance "to go into the history books".
The French President inherits stewardship of the European Union at a most inopportune time, with a heavy baggage, and if he manages to solve just one of the daunting problems facing the EU, it would be an achievement. Before June he promised that France would focus its efforts on four areas: a new and tough EU "immigration pact" (tightening control and repatriation of illegal immigrants), a common climate change policy, development of a new food and agriculture policy and the creation of a common European defense system, something like EU armed forces.
However, after the Irish "no" to the Lisbon reform treaty on June 13 Sarkozy dramatically revised his priorities. Now he will try to rescue the European constitution, which was to be phased in beginning from 2009 and ending with 2014. It has already been announced that Le Sarko would make his first foreign visit as the EU President to Dublin on July 11, where he will try to persuade the Irish Prime Minister to hold another referendum on the treaty not later than the summer of next year. He and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are the most ardent supporters of the Lisbon reforms.
As if to mock Sarkozy's efforts to get the dumb Celts "to think straight" the treaty was then attacked by countries that one could least expect to attack it. Just the day before Sarkozy was enthroned in Europe German President Horst Kohler unexpectedly refused to sign into law the treaty already ratified by the Bundestag, declaring that he had to wait for the Constitutional Court to decide whether it was legal to ratify such a treaty without a national referendum. The Polish President Lech Kaczynski also refused to sign the treaty. Although both presidents are basically figureheads, it may take months to sort out the problem, and it slows down the progress on further ratification of the treaty. As of today, only 19 out of 27 EU countries have endorsed it. The doubters of Lisbon Treaty include even the Czech Republic, which is to succeed France as the EU rotating president from January 1, 2009.
Sarkozy has already announced that France would oppose any EU enlargement until all its 27 members approve the Lisbon Treaty.
In parallel with his "battle for the Constitution" he intends to bring the EU to address European problems and "turn Europe into a means of protecting Europeans in their everyday lives", to strengthen the European consensus, restore European unity, change the EU's financial policy, cut down to size the European Commission and European Central Bank and stop the growth of food and fuel prices. Quite a handful of tasks, more than a match for a single man.
As for "European unity" the president was probably a bit carried away when making that promise. Even before he assumed EU presidentship he managed to quarrel with Brussels, so much so that the European Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson, pointedly stayed away from the banquet to mark Sarkozy's enthronement on July 1. Sarkozy had blamed Mandelson for the failure of the Irish referendum because he was allegedly pursuing a wrong agriculture policy opposed by Irish farmers. Before that he lashed out at the Central Bank, which hardly made him new friends among financiers.
However, Angela Merkel, who presided over the EU a year ago, is prepared to give a helping hand to Super Sarko to "adjust" his policy. The French Le Telegramme quotes the Chancellor as telling him recently: "In Paris, Nicholas, you are the Sun King but Europe is like Germany, a coalition of diverging interests. You need a lot of patience and skill." With such a mentor, he cannot fail.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
