Sarkozy's mission of love

His identical twin brother may have been ousted as prime minister last year, but President Lech Kaczynski of Poland is doing a good job of maintaining the family tradition of intransigence in foreign policy. Just as the dust was beginning to settle following the Irish "no" vote on the Lisbon treaty, the Polish president—never known for his Europhilia—has said that he will refuse to sign the treaty. Now other wavering countries, including the Czech Republic, may find it tempting to postpone ratification.

This all adds up to a big headache for France, which takes over the presidency of the European Union today. Before the Irish vote, Nicolas Sarkozy had looked forward to the opportunity of hosting a grand ceremony in Paris at which the Lisbon treaty would come into force and the EU would move on from its current tiresome phase of navel-gazing. Yet in an interview to mark the beginning of the French presidency, Sarkozy suggested that he understands that there is a difficulty with the EU's attitude towards the democratic rights of its citizens, and that many people are beginning to wonder if the union is better equipped to "protect" them than member states. Sarkozy plans to travel to Dublin next week to meet Irish voters and listen to their concerns over Lisbon and the direction of the union.

Whether or not the Irish referendum was lost on grounds that had little to do with the Lisbon treaty, as many argue, the union cannot continue to reform and develop without the support of its citizens. Any ratification procedure that seems directly to go against the will of voters will lead to the continuing distancing of the European Union from ordinary people, and this is not sustainable in the long run, particularly if the union is going to expand to take in the Balkan countries and particularly Turkey. So while it is perhaps understandable that European politicians would express frustration that a few hundred thousand voters in Ireland can hold up what is seen as a necessary streamlining process, perhaps they should be looking a bit further ahead and thanking the Irish for drawing everyone's attention to something that is long overdue. Sarkozy, to his credit, seems to have realised this—amd perhaps he has found a mission for the French presidency—making us fall in love with the EU again—that will turn out to be even more glorious than the one he had envisaged.