Europe's leaders eye Sarkozy partnership

Nicolas Sarkozy may still have work to do to win the French presidency but he has already secured the unspoken support of Berlin, Brussels and London.

To leaders in Europe's big power centres, Mr Sarkozy may be an abrasive Gaullist, but he is best placed to bring a reformed France back into the political mainstream, making him the fourth member of a powerful group of Atlanticist European Union modernisers.

Angela Merkel, German chancellor, José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, and Tony Blair, British prime minister, have privately discussed the idea of forming a "strategic partnership" with Mr Sarkozy.

Gordon Brown, Mr Blair's presumed successor, has also spoken to Ms Merkel and Mr Barroso on how the four might work together to promote economic reform and build a more outward-looking Europe, with strengthened US relations.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes