Brussels diary

The French president invariably hogs the limelight at EU summits but, even by the high-octane standards of Nicolas Sarkozy, the one-day leaders’ summit in Brussels in September proved spectacular. At a lunch, the fierce rift between Paris and Brussels over the rights of the Roma came to a head with all the politesse and diplomatic etiquette of a scene from Reservoir Dogs.

The clash ended weeks of tension which had been simmering after the leak of a French government circular. This document made it plain that, in clearing illegal camps, the French authorities had targeted the Roma—in breach of both EU law and assurances given to Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice. To make matters worse, there was also a declaration from Pierre Lellouche, France’s thuggish Europe minister, to the effect that the commission had no right to interfere in internal issues. This was seen in Brussels as a challenge to the commission’s role in policing EU law and, along with her rage at being misled, resulted in Reding’s outburst in which she alluded to the ethnic cleansing of the second world war.

As the EU summit loomed, the counter-attack from the Elysée was swift and brutal, designed to leave the commission isolated. After the clash over lunch, Sarkozy denounced Reding and claimed the unanimous support of EU leaders. A reconstruction of the conversation by the French daily Le Monde revealed a less clear-cut picture, with the main support for Sarkozy coming from British prime minister David Cameron and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian PM, who called on commission president José Manuel Barroso to gag his commissioners and their spokespeople.

By contrast, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, made no intervention—though that did not prevent her from getting caught in the crossfire. Merkel was appalled to hear how, in Sarkozy’s post-summit press conference, he suggested that Germany intends to deal with its Roma in a similar way to France. Merkel put out a denial while—by chance—travelling to Berlin with Reding and Barroso, who were attending an event with her.

Commission officials recount gleefully how Merkel, Barroso and Reding bonded on the issue, the German chancellor volunteering the view that Sarko often seems mentally unhinged. For most of this year the commission’s relations with Berlin had been even worse than those with Paris. But Sarkozy has unwittingly brought about a reconciliation—on the principle that an enemy’s enemy is some sort of friend.

OBAMA BACKS UNLOVED TREATY

Even around the EU quarter in Brussels, it is difficult nowadays to find many people who will tell you that the Lisbon treaty has worked out well. But there is one part of the world where they do seem to believe in the accord which took the EU so long to negotiate: the US. This has emerged from the rescheduling of the EU-US summit which famously failed to take place in May.

At the time, Barack Obama concluded that it was not worth travelling across the Atlantic to attend a summit in Madrid when the rotating presidency of the EU, which Spain held, had been downgraded by the Lisbon treaty. Having already announced the date of the summit, the episode was a humiliation for the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. It also provoked months of moping by Europeans about how they were being sidelined by Obama. Finally, the US president relented and agreed to attend an EU summit in November, providing it takes place around the Nato leaders’ gathering, which he has to attend anyway (and, by coincidence, takes place in Lisbon).

There then arose the delicate question of whom Obama should meet. When Belgium, which now holds the rotating presidency of the EU, inquired in Washington about its role in the summit it was referred to the Lisbon treaty. Obama, the White House said, will meet the president of the European council, Herman Van Rompuy, and commission president Barroso, because that’s what the treaty says. The fact that Belgium’s Yves Leterme is only a caretaker prime minister, having resigned three times in three years, may have lessened his cachet. But a precedent has been set and it is one that the dwindling band of Lisbon treaty supporters will surely cheer. If, that is, they can get over the idea that it required the Americans to make it.

FOREIGN POLICY CUCKOOS

Dreams of a grand new “European state department” building for Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, are fading. With a spending squeeze underway, Ashton has retreated from her aim to rent a shiny new pile at the Schuman roundabout and has instead targeted one already owned by the EU: the Lex building.

The problem now is to get the European council to evict the legal translators who work there. To do this Ashton needs to convince Pierre de Boissieu, an imperious Frenchman and descendant of Charles de Gaulle, who is secretary general of the council at present. The omens are not good. When she got her job, De Boissieu informed Ashton there was no space in the main council building for her or her staff.