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A leader emerges

This article is more than 15 years old
Editorial

Even if it is being said through gritted teeth in London, the French presidency of the European Union, which ends this month, has been a success. This is not a column which has devoted many inches to praising Nicolas Sarkozy. But as a man who can take the helm of an institution in crisis, the EU has found a new leader in him. Consider what happened in the last six months: Georgia attacked a breakaway province and Russia invaded. Few believe Mr Sarkozy's claim to have talked Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, out of going all the way to Tbilisi, but at the time, the dialogue between the two men was the only game in town, and the means by which the Russian columns withdrew, albeit partially. European diplomacy, so easy to dismiss, stuttered back to life.

Then came the global crash. Again, the stimulus package amounting to "about" 1.5% of EU GDP had much of its voltage reduced by Germany, and was in any case little more than a bundle of different national responses. But to achieve that, Mr Sarkozy knocked together heads both in and out of the eurozone, and showed that the EU was capable of taking collective decisions when it mattered.

Nor did the two crises derail an already packed agenda. Climate change and the Lisbon treaty emerged relatively unscathed. The EU states kept their commitment to increase the share of renewable sources to 20% and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, both by 2020. And the Irish government kept the Lisbon treaty alive by agreeing to a second referendum next year. The thread running through all of this was the dynamism of a politician who believed in the power of political leadership. He even took time to talk to, and be questioned by, the European parliament, another first.

Move, however, from the general to the particular and there is plenty to question. The price of a man like Mr Sarkozy who cuts deals can often be high. And it is not France who pays it. Just ask the Georgians. Or those dismayed by the concessions given to central and eastern Europe over the proposal to make energy generators pay for their emissions permits. The long-term implications of the fine detail are troubling. But consider the alternative. What if two major international crises had happened during the presidency of a smaller member nation, like the Czech Republic, which takes over for the next six months? Mr Sarkozy proved that EU governments can act collectively and that the institution is still greater than the sum of its parts. In acting like a leader of the EU should, Mr Sarkozy provided the best possible argument for replacing the current rotating presidency with an elected president.

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