PARIS: Ask a random sample of Britons, Danes, Latvians and Italians who the president of the United States is, and you'll hear an Obama chorus. Ask them who the president of the European Union is, and you will probably draw a blank. Told it is Vaclav Klaus, they would most likely say: Who? The Europeans have only themselves to blame for such ignorance, given a system that allows the EU presidency to change hands every six months. Now, at a time when the region is reeling from back-to-back crises, topped by the worst economic downtown in decades, it is the turn of the Czech Republic, a country of 10 million with a record as a reluctant EU member, let alone leader. The Czechs' leadership - or lack of it - should clinch the argument for a permanent EU presidency that could give the continent the kind of clout it deserves and needs.
PARIS: Ask a random sample of Britons, Danes, Latvians and Italians who the president of the United States is, and you'll hear an Obama chorus.
Ask them who the president of the European Union is, and you will probably draw a blank. Told it is Vaclav Klaus, they would most likely say: Who?
The Europeans have only themselves to blame for such ignorance, given a system that allows the EU presidency to change hands every six months.
Now, at a time when the region is reeling from back-to-back crises, topped by the worst economic downtown in decades, it is the turn of the Czech Republic, a country of 10 million with a record as a reluctant EU member, let alone leader.
The Czechs' leadership - or lack of it - should clinch the argument for a permanent EU presidency that could give the continent the kind of clout it deserves and needs.
I hate this crap. Hate, hate, hate.
"Please make Europe something we fuckwitted journalists can understand easily. Pleeeeeeese. We'll whine 'til we puke otherwise."
