EU: Economic and linguistic nationalism were ever apparent at this week's EU summit, writes Jamie Smyth
Despite warnings of a potential diplomatic clash over protectionism, EU leaders kept their cool and delivered a modest, if unspectacular, reform package at the summit.
Against a background of violent unrest in France over labour reforms, member states signed up to a series of initiatives to boost economic growth and deliver more jobs.
They pledged to boost spending on research and development to 3 per cent of GDP by 2010, and to be in a position to offer all school-leavers either a job or training by 2007. But energy dominated the proceedings with EU leaders committing themselves to liberalising energy markets by mid-2007 and trying to create a true European energy policy.
Stung by the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis in January, when several EU states saw their imports of natural gas cut, leaders agreed to a strategy to secure energy supplies and push towards a more integrated EU energy market.
EU leaders welcomed the plan as "historic", although analysts were more cautious.
"I think one day when you [ write] the history of European integration, we will say energy policy for Europe was born on March 23rd and 24th, 2006," said European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.
But more controversial elements of the commission's green paper on energy did not attract political support from EU leaders, particularly the idea of a single regulator.
Observers also warned that the new EU energy plan could suffer the same fate as the original Lisbon economic reform strategy, which was ignored and not implemented by EU states.
The divisive issue of "economic nationalism" - which dominated the political agenda in the run-up to the summit - was largely kept out of the key debates on the energy strategy and further economic reform.
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faces a tough election battle in a few weeks, was expected by many journalists to pick a fight with Mr Chirac over Paris's intervention in a proposed merger between Italian firm Enel and France's Suez.
But the usually outspoken Mr Berlusconi disappointed the press.
"There is no news, unless you journalists want us to declare war on France," he said.
However, divisions between states over the scope of proposed economic reform in the EU were never far from the surface. For example, discussion of the services directive - a draft EU law that would make it easier for firms to operate across borders - overran due to disagreements between the Netherlands, France and Germany.
With no big news at the summit, in the end it was left to President Chirac to steal the headlines by pushing the concept of "linguistic nationalism" at the EU.
Angered when the French head of a business lobby group chose to switch to English during a speech to EU leaders in English, Mr Chirac staged a brief French walk-out with his ministers.
"I have to say I was profoundly shocked to see a Frenchman express himself in English at the council table. That's why the French delegation and myself walked out rather than listen to that," he explained to journalists yesterday.
Ironically, though, the French business lobby leader delivered an attack on "economic patriotism" in his presentation in English to EU leaders. Clearly, the nationalist tensions in the EU over reform and strategic industrial sectors will continue for some time to come.