"I TRIED to change Europe but Europe changed me." So President Nicolas Sarkozy told the European Parliament yesterday in a valedictory speech on France's six-month presidency of the European Union. Welcoming the experience, he commended it to other leaders: "When one has the chance over six months to learn about and to solve the problems of 27 nations, one gains tolerance, an opening of the spirit and one understands Europe."
It has been a tumultuous six months, framed first of all by the Irish electorate's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty last June, secondly by the Russian-Georgian conflict in August and then most seriously of all by the financial and economic crises which engulfed the entire capitalist world from September onwards. Mr Sarkozy displayed an extraordinary combination of activism, ambition and pragmatism in response. He knows how to use power in each of these respects, but is also willing to learn from his setbacks and mistakes. This has earned him the admiration of most other leaders for an effective French presidency which kept the EU in the forefront of these events.
Yesterday he summarised the outcome of negotiations with the Government on Lisbon by emphasising the significance of keeping one commissioner per member state and ensuring political guarantees on other issues are given legal effect by being attached to the forthcoming accession treaty with Croatia. Assuming the Government is satisfied with their text and legal form, it is committed to hold another referendum on Lisbon. Mr Sarkozy is right to describe this as a brave decision by Mr Cowen, given the gravity of what is at stake politically whatever the outcome. Mr Sarkozy has been proactive and helpful to Ireland on this major question, all the while insisting that the states which have ratified the treaty and are more and more determined to see it implemented must have their rights recognised as well.
This determination was certainly reinforced by the Georgian events and enormously more so by the developing financial crisis. Mr Sarkozy saw the need for rapid and co-ordinated EU action on bank recapitalisation and then on an economic stimulus plan. He took the initiative in calling for world action to reform the Bretton Woods institutions. And he brought last week's European Council to an admittedly imperfect agreement on the Kyoto climate change package. These achievements reinforce political leaders' power within the EU system and will be difficult to maintain over the next year. But they genuinely did show how such leadership can work.