Day By Day

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

A New Vision For Europe -- Merkel and Sarkozy Shake Things Up

Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy held a joint news conference Tuesday. This is fascinating because odds are that next year she will be Chancellor of Germany and he will be President of France. Their joint declaration thus defines the probable course of future European integration.

What did they say?

1) They agreed that Turkey should not become a full member of the EU.

2) They agreed to abandon the "Paris-Rome Axis" policies of Schroeder and Chirac and to consult closely with Spain, Italy, and Britain on European policies.

3) They promised to give small European countries a greater voice in future European deliberations.

Sarkozky announced that after the conference he would be traveling to Britain, Spain and Italy to confer with their heads of states, thus beginning the implementation of the new, broader decision making process.

Sorta cheeky, isn't it? Neither of them has yet been elected and they are already acting like heads of state.

Read it here.

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