Gideon Rachman gives Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also President of the EU, high marks for his leadership during the financial crisis:
By contrast, Nicolas Sarkozy has done well. “Reassuring” is not a word that generally applies to the hyperactive French president. But Mr Sarkozy has looked energetic and determined. Since France currently holds the presidency of the European Union, he has had the usually nightmarish task of trying to manufacture a joint European response. In the event, Sunday night’s summit in Paris was a much more decorous and successful occasion than many an EU crisis summit. By avoiding farce and presenting a united façade to the world, Mr Sarkozy saved the EU from further embarrassment.
I would like to agree with him, but I have some reservations not because I disagree with Sarkozy politically, but because I have the sense that what is being done will simply and temporarily contain the flames of the fire because doing more and being for once and when it is needed, revolutionary would mean to increase uncertainty and to cause more panic. I have this sinking feeling that the toughest decisions aren’t make and that the political lessons of this crisis aren’t learned because they would necessitate Sarkozy to change ideologically. However, we know that politicians, especially when they are relentless and obsessed with speed as Sarkozy is, don’t change ideologically. They remain cats or dogs while from time to time pretending to metamorphose into something else to speed things along.
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