French President Nicholas Sarkozy! just met with President Medvedev to talk missile defence and other esoteric mysteries. Since France currently enjoys the EU's rotating presidency, Sarkozy! opted to follow in the footsteps of Louis XIV (L'État, c'est moi) and speak for everyone (I am the EU). "Please, no more talk of anti-missile protection systems," he said in comments directed at the U.S., Poland and Czech Republic.
Too bad. That statement directly contradicts France's position in April 2008 at the Bucharest NATO Summit, and wildly exceeds his mandate under the EU presidency.
Oh yeah, the Czech Republic had kittens.
According Alexandr Vondra, the leading Czech official for European affairs: "It is my understanding that Mr. Sarkozy met Mr. Medvedev on behalf of the French presidency of the EU...There was nothing in the EU mandate to talk about missile defense," he said.
In truth, Mr. Sarkozy may no longer be able to distinguish between the French presidency and the EU presidency. When French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner visited Russia in October, he invited Medevedev to France so the two countries could hammer out the EU-Russia Partnership Agreement.
The EU had agreed not to discuss the issue with Russia until member states could sort out the Georgia problem. Then again, Sarkozy appears to speak for the EU.
If this is a precedent, we can only imagine what the Czechs do when they assume the rotating presidency in January 2009.
2 comments:
I do agree that Sarkozy! deserves the exclamation point. It's like the "Yahoo!" brand, but not yet tanking...
I like how it reflects the proper French pronunciation of his name.
We just don't do it justice in the States.
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