Mr. Sarkozy's Model

AS 2008 DREW to a close, French President Nicolas Sarkozy basked in a continental wave of praise for his service in the European Union's presidency during the past six months. The frequent rotation of the job (which now moves on to the Czech Republic) and the difficulty of coordinating common positions among 27 member countries have typically made the European president a feckless figure on the international stage. But Mr. Sarkozy was a bold blur of activity. Filling the vacuum left by the exhausted Bush administration and frequently overstepping his nominal authority, the French leader brokered the cease-fire between Georgia and Russia, [Hmmm?]

presided over Europe's unusually quick and coherent response to the financial crisis [Hmm? Again what on earth did he really do? I don't think Nic the trick knows himself]

and, at a final summit last month, pushed the union to adopt an aggressive plan for reducing carbon emissions. [By god! Not another CO2 lunatic- that is just what we need. NOT!]

Bold" and "brilliant" are among the adjectives being heaped on Mr. Sarkozy by European diplomats and pundits -- especially those of the French persuasion [Why am I not surprised?] -- who have long dreamed of a European Union president who could meet his U.S., Russian and Chinese counterparts on more or less equal terms. Not coincidentally Mr. Sarkozy has been leading the push for the ratification of a new E.U. treaty that would end the six-month rotation in favor of an elected president with a 2 1/2 -year term. He's demonstrated that a capable and strong-willed politician in that job could have a greater impact than national European leaders acting separately.

Or has he? The credit Mr. Sarkozy has received seems mainly due to his boldness in strong-arming his European counterparts; his handling of other powers was decidedly less impressive. China dismissed Mr. Sarkozy after he met with the Dalai Lama. George W. Bush deflected his overreaching demand for a Group of Eight meeting in New York to "refound capitalism" to a 20-nation summit in Washington, which referred reform proposals to committees.

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When Zarkozy was elected even I for a moment thought that France finally, finally had voted through a deascent non- socialistic president. Stupid, stupid me! It's just the same Gaullic socialism as ever. Thank god that he did not stay for more than six months as a president- even if I'm not entirely sure that the coming up alternative is much better... Atleast the Irish had some brain- oh, wait. The Irish was the ONLY ones to actually get a say about the Lisbon treaty. Every other member country just said yes over the heads of their citizens.

Then there is of course the FRA, IPRED, ACTA and the TELECOM legislations which will make George Orwell rotate in his grave with a speed enough to power a mid zised city.

Sometimes I think we deserve it. We have after all voted the politicians to their seats. Blargh!