The selection of the new president and “foreign minister” of Europe was a big nothing. Clearly, the commitment to the “idea” of Europe is waning. The people chosen for the presumably global roles are virtual unknowns on the world stage. It was telling that the news of the event was buried on the two newspapers of record on politics and government in the U S. It ran on page 4 of the Washington Post and page 10 in the New York Times. Now, imagine where the story had run if they had chosen Tony Blair. The electors in Europe surely knew what they were doing and chose a very low key path instead.
The Financial Times has, of course, the best coverage. Particularly interesting is a piece informed by the views of one of the original visionaries of the European idea, Valerie Giscard d’Estaing, former French president. He, too, see this as a missed opportunity.
It’s one of the reasons all attention in Washington points to the East when it comes to foreign and global economic policy.
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