A less than towering start for Sarkozy

Published on Tuesday 1 July 2008 22:05

SHE sings in English and dreams in Italian, while his roots reach to Hungary and Greece. Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla, could be a metaphor for a harmonious, borderless Europe.

The real Europe is a cacophonous place, however, and, as the Sarkozys became the continent's public face yesterday, with France taking over the presidency of the European Union for the first time since 2000, it was a case of bickering as usual.

Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, chose yesterday to retaliate for comments Mr Sarkozy had made about him on Monday.

Another note of disharmony came from Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president, who said ratifying the EU's Lisbon treaty would be "pointless" after the Irish rejected it last month. Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, has already voiced similar sentiments.

Officially, yesterday was a cause for celebration – the Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the blue and yellow of the EU flag – but there were glaring problems behind the scenes, principally Ireland's vote last month to reject a treaty meant to make the EU work better. Mr Sarkozy has a personal stake in seeing the deal through, as he was one of its architects. But the Irish have thrown the whole process into turmoil: it can only take effect if ratified by all 27 EU states.

Franois Fillon, the French prime minister, insisted the treaty was still alive. "The ratification process is continuing," he said, adding there would be "permanent dialogue" with Ireland to try to find a way out of the impasse. "In the meantime, Europe must move forward," he said.

As France takes the EU helm, officials stressed that Paris remained firmly against EU membership for Turkey. It will allow entry negotiations that began in 2005 to continue, but only in selected areas that do not go to the heart of membership.

Mr Sarkozy's brash style has already caused irritation. On television on Monday evening, he slammed Mr Mandelson and the head of the World Trade Organisation, saying they wanted to make job-destroying concessions in global trade talks.

Mr Mandelson responded forcibly yesterday, saying the French president's comments were disappointing, unjustified and uncalled-for, and undermined the EU's trade position ahead of world trade talks in Geneva later this month.

Last night, Mr Mandelson, who had been in Paris with his fellow commissioners to mark the start of the French presidency, snubbed dinner with Mr Sarkozy at the Elyse Palace, heading instead to a trade-related engagement in Marseilles.

One of Mr Sarkozy's first decisions as France takes the EU helm from Slovenia will be whether to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics over China's treatment of Tibet. The repercussions of a walkout on the EU's relations with China could be huge.

French diplomats also hope Mr Sarkozy stakes out a high EU foreign-policy profile, while the United States is sidelined with a presidential transition until early next year.

Six months is not a long time in terms of EU bureaucracy, and few countries make great strides during their half-year terms in charge. Mr Sarkozy may hope to be an exception – after all, he met, courted and married the supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni within three months.

FACT FILE

ENERGY/CLIMATE CHANGE

Possibly the most difficult of France's four priorities will be brokering a deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

IMMIGRATION

President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he wants the French presidency to be relevant to the lives of ordinary people, and argues that harmonising immigration and asylum rules is a key part of that.

DEFENCE

Sarkozy has made a priority of boosting European defence, an aim that is usually mentioned in the same breath as his readiness to return France to NATO.