Not quite the presidency agenda Paris wantedEUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - On Tuesday 1 July, France takes over the EU presidency armed with a big country's sense of the natural order of things, a hyperactive president and a lengthy list of priorities. But its six month term will operate under the twin black clouds of Ireland's rejection of the EU Lisbon Treaty as well as rising discontent among European citizens about the recent hikes in food and fuel prices. The Irish question will simmer throughout Paris' reign of the EU as member states try and pull off the public relations feat of making it look like the Irish vote counts but putting pressure on Dublin to put the document to referendum for a second time. Whether they achieve this will depend as much on the way Paris conducts the talks as on the actions of Irish prime minister Brian Cowen. However, France's hopes of brokering deals on who would occupy new posts created by the Lisbon treaty - such as the EU president - have been scuppered.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - On Tuesday 1 July, France takes over the EU presidency armed with a big country's sense of the natural order of things, a hyperactive president and a lengthy list of priorities.
But its six month term will operate under the twin black clouds of Ireland's rejection of the EU Lisbon Treaty as well as rising discontent among European citizens about the recent hikes in food and fuel prices.
The Irish question will simmer throughout Paris' reign of the EU as member states try and pull off the public relations feat of making it look like the Irish vote counts but putting pressure on Dublin to put the document to referendum for a second time.
Whether they achieve this will depend as much on the way Paris conducts the talks as on the actions of Irish prime minister Brian Cowen. However, France's hopes of brokering deals on who would occupy new posts created by the Lisbon treaty - such as the EU president - have been scuppered.
Paris: France takes over the European Union's rotating presidency on Sunday for what was originally billed as six months of action-packed diplomacy, but other EU capitals and Irish voters have forced it to scale down its aims. Last year, fresh from his election victory, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a range of plans for his turn at the helm, from an EU-style Mediterranean Union to bringing the bloc's new institutional order into force and hosting a summit on the euro. Those plans have either been watered down or scrapped, taking the sheen off Sarkozy's ambitions. "We went from a vision that Sarkozy was going to change Europe to a slightly more realistic view of what a president can do," said Olivier Louis, head of the EU presidency programme at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
Paris: France takes over the European Union's rotating presidency on Sunday for what was originally billed as six months of action-packed diplomacy, but other EU capitals and Irish voters have forced it to scale down its aims.
Last year, fresh from his election victory, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a range of plans for his turn at the helm, from an EU-style Mediterranean Union to bringing the bloc's new institutional order into force and hosting a summit on the euro.
Those plans have either been watered down or scrapped, taking the sheen off Sarkozy's ambitions.
"We went from a vision that Sarkozy was going to change Europe to a slightly more realistic view of what a president can do," said Olivier Louis, head of the EU presidency programme at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
"We went from a vision that Sarkozy was going to change Europe to a slightly more realistic view of what a president can do,"
ROTFLMAO...
This now gets tendentious. Have you read just one example of a Sarko fan realising s/he was duped who admits it s/he should have foreseen it? *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
PARIS (Map, News) - France's first lady sings in English and dreams in Italian, and the president's roots reach to Hungary and Greece. Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy could be a metaphor for a harmonious, borderless Europe.The real Europe is a cacophonous and conflicted place, though, as the Sarkozys will soon discover: On Tuesday, they become the continent's public face, as France takes over the presidency of the 27-nation European Union.It's an unusual, important job, presiding over a bloc that boasts nearly half a billion people and an economy rivaling America's yet that struggles to manage its financial and diplomatic heft.Impatient and attention-grabbing, Sarkozy will have his hands full trying to guide - and not dictate to - an EU that is trying to prepare the sometimes sluggish continent to meet this century's challenges, from China's growing clout to expanding global demand for shrinking energy resources.
PARIS (Map, News) - France's first lady sings in English and dreams in Italian, and the president's roots reach to Hungary and Greece. Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy could be a metaphor for a harmonious, borderless Europe.
The real Europe is a cacophonous and conflicted place, though, as the Sarkozys will soon discover: On Tuesday, they become the continent's public face, as France takes over the presidency of the 27-nation European Union.
It's an unusual, important job, presiding over a bloc that boasts nearly half a billion people and an economy rivaling America's yet that struggles to manage its financial and diplomatic heft.
Impatient and attention-grabbing, Sarkozy will have his hands full trying to guide - and not dictate to - an EU that is trying to prepare the sometimes sluggish continent to meet this century's challenges, from China's growing clout to expanding global demand for shrinking energy resources.
here we go again...
one man's sluggish is another man's calm.
jus cuz we don't run around bumping into things in a caffeine frenzy!
oh wait... The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.
PARIS: French officials said Monday that they would use the presidency of the European Union to try to win over discontented voters in Europe by getting "back to basics," like cushioning the impact of soaring food and fuel bills and protecting voters from globalization. On the eve of the start of its six-month presidency, the officials made it clear that they would seek to reverse the recent no vote by Ireland in a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to reorganize the EU and would press the Czech Republic to ratify the treaty. "The European idea is in danger if we don't protect Europeans," President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday as he promised to oppose the European Commission's position in global trade talks. Speaking on French television, Sarkozy attacked proposals in the trade negotiations that he said would reduce European farm production by one-fifth and cut agricultural exports by 10 percent. Sarkozy also highlighted the problems caused for exporters by the high euro exchange rate with the dollar and said the European Central Bank should take account of economic growth, as well as its obligation to control inflation.
PARIS: French officials said Monday that they would use the presidency of the European Union to try to win over discontented voters in Europe by getting "back to basics," like cushioning the impact of soaring food and fuel bills and protecting voters from globalization.
On the eve of the start of its six-month presidency, the officials made it clear that they would seek to reverse the recent no vote by Ireland in a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to reorganize the EU and would press the Czech Republic to ratify the treaty.
"The European idea is in danger if we don't protect Europeans," President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday as he promised to oppose the European Commission's position in global trade talks. Speaking on French television, Sarkozy attacked proposals in the trade negotiations that he said would reduce European farm production by one-fifth and cut agricultural exports by 10 percent.
Sarkozy also highlighted the problems caused for exporters by the high euro exchange rate with the dollar and said the European Central Bank should take account of economic growth, as well as its obligation to control inflation.
Sarkozy's European Union plan - Telegraph
As Nicolas Sarkozy assumes the EU presidency, The Daily Telegraph examines French leader's position on the key issues facing the union.
