EU: "The constitution is dead," President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in an interview on French television last night less than 24 hours before the Brussels summit that will attempt to salvage parts of the constitutional treaty concluded under the Irish EU presidency three years ago.
Asked whether he thought Poland - which is holding out to maintain voting rules adopted at the Nice summit in 2002 - would "give in", Mr Sarkozy said: "Poland is a country of 38 million people. It will not let itself be humiliated.
"We don't have problems only with Poland. We have problems with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and a little with the Czech Republic. There are a lot of problems.
"France and the Netherlands voted No," Mr Sarkozy continued. "For the constitution to enter into force, the totality [of European member states] would have to ratify it.
"The totality will not ratify it. The constitution is dead. That is clear. So what do we do?"
In 2004, Mr Sarkozy insisted the French ratify the treaty by referendum. But during his campaign, he promised there would be no second referendum.
"The first referendum immobilised Europe," he explained. "A second referendum would kill Europe.
"I must take account of the French who voted against the constitution, who don't want it. So I told Mrs Merkel we don't want a new constitution but a simplified treaty."
If a "simplified treaty" is concluded in Brussels in the early hours of Saturday morning, you can be certain Mr Sarkozy will take credit for it. "This idea which I carried alone for months, now everyone agrees on it," he said.
The "simplified treaty" would provide for a president of Europe, elected for 2½ years - an improvement over six-month presidencies held by prime ministers or presidents who had their own countries to govern, he said.
There will be "a foreign minister who will not have the title" and more qualified majority voting (instead of decisions requiring unanimity), especially on his pet subject, immigration.
"We will try to find a compromise. I cannot imagine that we will not find a compromise," Mr Sarkozy added, concluding his remarks on the summit.
The French president seemed irritated when Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, France's star television presenter, mentioned video footage that appeared to show him in an altered condition after a session with the Russian president Vladimir Putin at the recent G8 summit.
Belgian television apologised for suggesting he'd been drinking, and Le Mondenewspaper concluded that Mr Sarkozy was "drunk on power".
"I have never drunk a drop of alcohol," Mr Sarkozy said.
"Mr Putin doesn't drink either. We had a frank, harsh discussion. But it wasn't washed down," he said.
Mr Sarkozy also rejected Mr Poivre d'Arvor's suggestion that he was "less frenetic" since his election on May 6th.
In four years as interior minister and one year as finance minister, Mr Sarkozy said he "managed tens, hundreds, of crises. No one can say I took a wrong decision."
The French people were the best judges he added. "Do you really think they didn't reflect seriously before choosing between Ségolène Royal and me?"
Unlike his predecessor, who sat rigidly behind a desk for television interviews, Mr Sarkozy sat on a sofa with his jacket unbuttoned and an ankle resting on a knee.
"I don't think the French want an icy, immobile president," he said.
The French showed a "healthy reaction" when they gave him an absolute majority, but tempered by a strong socialist opposition, in legislative elections last Sunday.
The weight of presidential responsibility was far greater than he'd imagined, Mr Sarkozy concluded.
"I always try to work for the general interest. I want every French person to say to him or herself, 'I was taken into account'."