It’s strange to think that Nicolas Sarkozy was once regarded as a Eurosceptic. At
the end of France’s tenure as EU President in December 2008, Sarkozy told MEPs that “it would be a mistake to want to build Europe
against the nation states”, adding that he was opposed to “European fundamentalism”. How times have changed. Sarkozy told colleagues at last month’s Greek debt crisis summit
that he was “a federalist”, and today we learn (£) that Sarkozy believes that Eurobonds
must be introduced to save the single currency. Angela Merkel disagrees, so Sarkozy will try to
coax her round when the two meet on Tuesday. He will probably also seek to gain her agreement that the EFSF (the EU bailout fund) is extended, a long-term French goal.
It is striking that Sarkozy, a once proud Gaullist, now seeks refuge in the bosom of Jacques Delors’ euro-federalist dream.
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