Mr Chirac’s successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, freely professes his admiration for the US but could, ironically, be far more effective in helping to turn Europe into a serious global force and ushering in a multi-polar world. His first important foreign policy speech this week may not have differed wildly in content from previous French pronouncements. But what was striking was Mr Sarkozy’s sense of purpose and his timetabled proposals to turn wishful thinking into reality. One way or other it seems inevitable that the European Union will have to develop a more coherent foreign policy and a more muscular defence capability if it is ever to avoid a repeat of the Yugoslav tragedy, act meaningfully in crises such as Darfur, and (possibly) deal with the regional turmoil caused by any US withdrawal from Iraq. It is far better – as Mr Sarkozy suggests – to forge a new consensus now among the EU’s 27 members than to be overwhelmed by events.
Mr Sarkozy should therefore be applauded for making this necessary discussion one of the main purposes of the French presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008.
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