EU anxiety as Sarkozy prepares to take helm
IHT March 19, 2008
"...The dinner concluded, Sarkozy convened a midnight press conference at
which he claimed that his plan for Mediterranean cooperation was the third big
French initiative to be adopted by the EU in a year.
Observing Sarkozy basking in the limelight, oozing adrenaline, one could be
forgiven for thinking that he was running the EU.
In three months, that impression will become reality. In July, Paris takes
over the bloc's six-month rotating presidency from the long-suffering
Slovenians. And that prospect is beginning to cause anxiety in Brussels...
...The holder of the EU presidency is expected to run the agenda in an
impartial manner, to consult widely, flatter colleagues and broker deals behind
the scenes even if it means giving others the credit.
Judged on his current performance, Sarkozy faces a steep learning
curve...
...The issue that prompted the latest clash was Sarkozy's plan for a Union
for the Mediterranean, originally conceived as a body linking the EU's southern
states to the non-EU Mediterranean countries. As such it threatened to exclude
Germany - the biggest source of EU funds. In the eyes of Chancellor Angela
Merkel, it might have led to the fragmentation of the EU, posing a fundamental
danger to German interests.
The dispute over the Mediterranean was eventually patched up with a
compromise announced at last week's summit meeting. But such rifts are
difficult to avoid when the leaders' personal styles contrast so starkly.
Merkel, a scientist by training, is always well briefed and rarely opens her
mouth without having thought through all the implications; Sarkozy frequently
shoots from the hip...
...But if Germany is alarmed, one senior European diplomat said, small
countries are petrified. For them, Sarkozy personifies a dangerous combination:
"a mercurial nature with bulldozer-like tendencies when he has an idea in his
brain."...
...Sarkozy's energy and single-mindedness do produce results, his
Mediterranean initiative being a good example. Though it was watered down after
German objections, Paris won the right to create new structures. Some in Berlin
believe that Sarkozy was taught a lesson: He had to compromise.
But he may have drawn the opposite conclusion: Even if he didn't get 100
percent of what he wanted, Sarkozy managed to bounce the Germans into a plan
they hated.
Another looming difficulty is the concentration of policy making in the
person of the president. This is a familiar pattern in the French system. The
Foreign Ministry, the prime minister's office and the presidential staff often
have different views, and it is only when the president takes a stand that the
policy is settled.
But with Sarkozy it is even more difficult for French officials - let alone
anyone else - to predict how a policy is going to turn out...
..."Across a range of policies," the European diplomat said, there is "a lot
of talk about French ambition and very little clarity about French objectives."
"
