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Time,
1 July 2008
Sarkozy's
presidency to be spoiled?
"There are too many issues on the French presidency
agenda," said Hugo Brady from the London-based
Centre for European Reform. He warned that instead
of over-extending himself — and trying to resolve
the irresolvable Lisbon Treaty morass — Sarkozy
should limit himself to a few key policy issues
that the EU can rally round. Brady also warned against
Sarkozy following his presidential predecessors'
tradition of nakedly pushed French national interests
in Europe's name. "The E.U. presidency is about
achieving consensus. It's about being an honest
broker, not a bulldozer," Brady said. He warned
that Sarkozy's penchant for glitz and spontaneous
policy announcements could be jarring in the more
cautious E.U. settings. "Sarkozy has admirable
energy, but he does not have diplomatic skill,"
he says. "At a time of fraught nerves, Europe
needs someone to reassure and I'm not sure Sarkozy
is that man."
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Radio
Netherlands, 1 July 2008
EU
braces for French flair à la Sarkozy
But there are doubts over whether the firebrand
Frenchman will strike the right tone in a country
that does not like to be told what to do: "He
has many strengths but diplomacy is not necessarily
one of them," says Simon Tilford from the London-based
Centre for European Reform. "He tends to make
policy off-the-cuff and he often talks without thinking
through the implications. In the context of Ireland,
that may well backfire."
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Bloomberg,
1 July 2008
France,
taking over EU leadership, seeks to avoid 'arrogance'
"He continues with the French tradition of
finding scapegoats,'' Philip Whyte, a senior research
fellow at the London-based Centre for European Reform.
"His attacks on the ECB have not gone down
well in Germany; the 'Polish plumber,' the Chinese
currency, Anglo-Saxons - all external scapegoats.''
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Deutsche
Welle, 1 July 2008
French
EU presidency faces uphill struggle
It's a crucial visit, according to Hugo Brady, from
the London-based Centre for European Reform. And
one that the Irishman believes could go either way.
"Sarkozy is unpredictable. The trip could make
things worse if he's impolitic. But it could also
be the start of a way back, an escape from europaralysis."
...Brady,
from the UK's Centre for European Reform, believes
that it would be extremely difficult to justify
a second referendum to voters. But he believes that
a single document recognizing Ireland's sovereignty
in key areas, such as defense, tax harmonization
and abortion alongside a guarantee of a national
commissioner for all EU countries might give pro-campaigners
a fighting chance.
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Bloomberg,
1 July 2008
Sarkozy,
chastened by Chad, seeks money, men for EU defense
arm
The next US president "will expect more from
Europe in terms of capabilities, particularly for
Afghanistan,'' says Tomas Valasek, a former Slovak
Defense Ministry official now at the London-based
Centre for European Reform. Europe will have to
"show it puts its money where its mouth is."
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Voice
of America, 30 June 2008
French
have high hopes for EU presidency
But a number of analysts believe the status of the
EU treaty might not necessarily put a damper on
the French presidency. That includes Clara O'Donnell
of the Centre for European Reform in London. "There
is very much scope for France to do a lot. They
have a very ambitious agenda. They've got a lot
of things they want to do - they may not do everything.
But they will do some things. And of course, the
Lisbon treaty will be in the background, but it
won't have to dominate all the debates," she
said.
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Associated Press, 29 June 2008
France's
Nicolas and Carla assume Europe's throne
"Sarkozy can sometimes do brilliantly, but
can equally be damaging," said Hugo Brady,
research fellow at Centre for European Reform in
Britain. As EU president "you're not supposed
to think in terms of national interest ... The presidency
needs to lead from the back as a conciliator."
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International
Herald Tribune, 25 June 2008
More
German troops to Afghanistan
"When you speak to officers in the field, they
tell you they'd rather have one soldier with no
strings attached, or what are called caveats, than
five soldiers with caveats," said Tomas Valasek,
a military expert at the Centre for European Reform,
a research institute in London. Valasek said that
he did not wish to single out Germany, because other
NATO countries had refused to send troops to fight
in the south, but that the size of Germany's force
meant it could have a significant impact if its
soldiers were freed of restrictions. "Single-handedly
Germany could do an awful lot to ameliorate the
security situation down south by simply sending
more of the existing troops to fight in the south,"
he said.
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The
New York Times, 24 June 2008
Backgrounder:
France's new military vision
Has France now come around to the British view?
"The French are realizing that not even they
are able to go it alone, and [Sarkozy] is putting
the French military back in the business of dealing
with threats that really matter," Tomas Valasek
of the Centre for European Reform, told Newsweek.
Certainly, many French senior officers fear otherwise.
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Newsweek, 21 June 2008
Drawing
the French battle lines
"The French are realizing that not even they
are able to go it alone, and he is putting the French
military back in the business of dealing with threats
that really matter," says Tomas Valasek of
the Centre for European Reform. ..."The French
want everything!" says Valasek. "But on
the most controversial points [with the British],
they went soft." Indeed, Sarkozy's pragmatic
view toward change had emerged again. After all,
there's no need to wreck the party on Bastille Day
even before it starts. France's revolution in defense
and foreign policy has only just begun.
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