ACTUALLY, THIS POSTER WAS created when the virtually unknown Christian Democratic politician Herman Van Rompuy was voted in as prime minister of Belgium in December of last year. Yesterday evening, over a private dinner in Brussels, he was surprisingly chosen as the chief representative of Europe when all the other conceivable candidates (including Tony Blair) fell through. It seems as if Van Rompuy is so bland that nobody could think of an argument against his nomination - except, of course, that he's too bland.
I'm not sure he's the best man to launch the new office of President of the European Council, however. I mean, the Holy Roman Empire started off with Charlemagne, England got going with William the Conquerer, the US with George Washington, the Soviet Union with Lenin, postwar France with De Gaulle, the Federal Republic of Germany with Adenauer. And now Europe is turning a new page in its millenia-old history with none other than... Herman Van Rompuy?
In the midst of the celebration in that Brussels dining room, a strange silence descended across Europe last night. Scientists finally traced it to a remarkable absence of popping corks. With the times being what they are, Europeans are saving their champagne for the World Cup next summer, and I can't say I blame them...
Preparing to step into the shoes of Charlemagne and Napoleon:
Herman Van Rompuy
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You are rather cruel, that picture with the tie, he is like a small town manufacturer going to his Rotary club meeting.
What about the Lady or Baroness?
Otherwise, someone with a name, how about Solana, for example?, would have insisted on it.
It speaks volumes about the reality under the surface, that, and the fact that there is no real Eurocorps.
Realism returns, because it never, ever went way.
good post btw.
i suppose the success of china has inspired this emulation of their political structure.
At least now Rumsfeld knows who to call in Europe. But does he speak English? No matter the dollar still rules.
A story about the intregues that got this man this post would be quite interesting. Would it read like The Day of the Jackel?
It did decades ago -- in a big way, in my view -- when it started the careful, and so far mostly successful integration process without much fanfare. If it manages to continue navigate between the Scylla of national (internal) dissatisfaction with the union and the Charybdis of competing world powers, then looking back from the future said Adenauer and De Gaulle would be respected not so much as charismatic leaders of their respective nations, but as wise old men who, despite the odds, supported the integration process that might just be the only escape from the constant power games that went on for millennia.
From your earlier posts it is clear that you are a very knowledgeable observer of history, and that would make it even more interesting to know, what benefits would you expect from the emergence of a more visible popular leader that would be supported by popping corks and enthusiastic populus? Would he strengthen the union, or strengthen the centrifugal nationalistic forces within it?
R
It is confusing, has the man got any power, I don't think so. It looks like he is another sort of monarch with no other purpose than to look nice and shake hands. An ornament. A presornament?
I mean, President of the Council of Europe, so what is that exactly?
It is all the fault of the Irish . They approved something and so this went on.
Today Sinterklaas arrives here. At least he gives away presents.
Nex time: Sinterklaas for president !
Good post.
@Don, Al, Mary, and Harvey
I agree.
@Galaxyman
That's an excellent question. At the moment all I can say is that the choice of Council President was bound to reflect on the type of office it would later become. Tony Blair was the obvious choice in terms of charisma and influence, but he was far too compromised in Europe due to his involvement in the Iraq war. So they chose a consensus candidate, i.e. the lowest common denominator, and that's the kind of Europe we're likely to get in the future. So despite Mr. Van Rompuy's indisputable personal merits, the dream of a truly united Europe that can stand up for its interests against the US, Russia, China etc. has been postponed for many years to come. Now whether such a Europe - and such a leader - are possible and even genuinely desirable is a whole different question...
For the EU to speak with one voice, is not a matter of having one spokesman, but of having the an agreement on what the voice is going to say.
And, yeah, a bland bureaucrat from Brussels is probably the perfect representation of the EU's government.
I watch the EU's efforts at ever wider membership and ever closer union and wonder how long those inherent contradictions can coexist.
Mr. Van Rompuy will be a chairman of the European Council--president, that is, in the French use of the term generally--nothing more, nothing less.
Also, it's not the Council of Europe as you added in your blog. :) That is a wholly separate institution, not a part of the EU, responsible for the creation of the very important European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights!
If a candidate has strong opinions and a history of achievement, he is bound to be controversial (viz. Tony Blair). Or, in short, unelectable (viz. Tony Blair). Notice how little audacity there has been about Obama in the last few years? You can be controversial or you can be the first black president, but you can't be both.
If the office of EU president ever becomes important, I suspect it will be far off in the future. You would need to create a credible and powerful European parliament first. And apart from a few leading politicians, no one seems very eager to go there. The EU is still very much a top-down project.
The World Cup, on the other hand, is a true populist phenomenon.