For the complete report from the NYTimes.com click on this link
Sarkozy and Merkel Try to Shape European Unity - by Steven Erlanger and Nicholas Kulish
They are an extremely odd couple — he is short and hyperactive, she is dour and shy. He believes in the power of the state and big interventions; she believes in a softer role for the state, guiding and prodding the market. But the French president and the German chancellor find themselves in a forced marriage in these days of economic crisis. Responsible for the two largest economies among nations that use the euro, known as the euro zone, they are trying to shape European unity in the days before the Group of 20 economic summit meeting this week.
In general, when France and Germany agree, they bring the European Union along, so the two leaders’ relationship is crucial in a period of crisis. While they have produced very different national responses to the economic downturn — with Mrs. Merkel authorizing a larger stimulus package than France has — they have worked together to keep fiscal discipline in the euro zone, and resist American calls for even greater government spending. They have found common cause as well in a call for much tougher global regulation of financial markets, putting the blame for the crisis directly on the “Anglo-Saxons” — the United States and Britain, whose free-market practices, not widely copied in continental Europe, are viewed by France and Germany as not sufficiently disciplined by the state.
Note EU-Digest: The G20 could turn out to be very interesting, not only for the results it might produce, but also as it will be the first "match" opposing the eloquent populist US President Barack Obama, with his unique political showmanship qualities against the EU's pragmatic leadership team of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. To keep it in boxing terms, Obama might "sting like a bee", but Angela and Nicholas are the true "heavy weights" in this contest. Europe must rally behind them and win.
