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Europe's Superhero
Meet Golden Gordon, the Saviour of Europe.
You'd think Gordon Brown would be pleased to discover that someone thinks he's doing a great job. And indeed yesterday, the air was thick was backslappings and praise for Britain's beleaguered Prime Minister. The trouble is, that praise was coming from Eurocrats and fellow European heads of government. Worse, their kind words followed Brown's pushing of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to ratification, despite widespread opposition to the treaty in Britain and the Irish NO vote only days before.
Rather than backing up the citizens of a nation who feel much the same about Lisbon as the British do, Brown chose to isolate Ireland, siding with Euro leaders who have ordered Ireland to vote again on the treaty.
From his peers, then, comes praise; from his people, however, Brown has won lasting contempt.
Nicolas Sarkozy, for his part, is making the most of the Irish NO. After the result came through, he fumed that the Irish were stupid, having "fattened" themselves on EU largesse for decades only to once again reject an important treaty. Rather rich coming from the leader of a nation which sucks up billions every year itself, mostly in agricultural funding. And not likely to win him a warm reception in Dublin. He has promised to visit the Irish capital during France's EU presidency, doubtless to bring some of the much-vaunted Sarkozy energy to play into Ireland's deliberations.
Sarkozy tried to show what a tough guy he is, probably because his tough guy act hasn't convinced anyone in France recently. Soft-soaping for France's belligerent taxi drivers, farmers, civil servants and teaching unions - but harsh words for Ireland's voters.
He ordered the Irish to come back in four months with a Plan B, most likely a second vote. He threatened that the EU wouldn't be capable of bringing in new members if Lisbon wasn't signed - hardly a disaster for France, where enthusiasm for enlargement traditionally runs low (Sarkozy himself is opposed to Turkish membership of the EU). He got personal, too, blaming the EU's Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson for the Irish vote - the Trade Commission has been one of France's hate figures for four years, thanks to the "liberal" Barroso Commission's determination to slash the huge farm subsidies France holds dear.
Sarkozy was fulsome in his praise of Gordon Brown, however. He spoke of Brown's "political courage", something we haven't heard much of in recent years. Germany's Angela Merkel was also full of smiles for Brown.
Had Brown refused to continue with the ratification of the treaty, it would have been as good as dead. Lisbon would have been blocked for at least another year: Rather than the six-month celebration and military effort Paris had planned for France's presidency of the EU, the period would be occupied with feverish negotiation, plotting and a return to the drawing board for a third go at the EU Constitution.
Brown can bask in Sarkozy's praise all he likes. As his predecessor Tony Blair could tell him thanks to his numerous battles with Jacques Chirac, clashes with France are inevitable and part of a British Prime Minister's job. It's when a French President finds cause to bury a PM with praise that one has to worry.
