Nicolas Sarkozy vowed yesterday to save the EU's reputation by showing that it could improve people's lives, even as another spanner was thrown into its gummed-up works, this time by the German President.

Since the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty, “Super Sarko” has recast himself as would-be saviour of the Union during the six-month French presidency of the 27-nation group, which began at midnight and was marked by the Eiffel Tower being lit up in blue and gold.

The French President wants to rekindle trust in the EU and put the treaty, which he helped to broker a year ago, back on track by the end of his tenure. He will visit Dublin on July 11, to sound out options from Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach.

Last night Mr Sarkozy opened his stint with promises to make Europe work for its people with measures on immigration, the cost of living and pollution.

“The question is how we give Europe a way of protecting its citizens in their daily lives,” he said on France3 television. “There is no shame in talking about protection.”

Europe needed to be protected against the effects of globalisation, he added, warming to one of his favourite themes. “Europe worries people and worse still, citizens are asking if it is not the nation state that protects them better than the Union.”

There was another blow for the Lisbon treaty yesterday from Horst Köhler, the German President, who refused to complete his country's ratification. President Köhler decided not to sign the documents until a legal challenge is heard by the country's constitutional court, a process that could last until the autumn.

Although the German head of state is a symbolic figure mainly, he has the power to delay legislation and can use that bought time to generate a national debate.

The move is a serious embarrassment for Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor who, with President Sarkozy, wants to keep the ratification process moving. The pair have threatened that there will be no further enlargement of the EU until the treaty is signed and sealed, with Ms Merkel declaring: “Europe cannot afford any pause for reflection.”

Mr Sarkozy's 26 colleagues, whom he summoned to a summit on the Mediterranean on July 13, had mixed feelings about his ambitions for the first presidency for France since 2000. They were pleased that the union would be chaired by one of its boldest and most energetic leaders but were nervous of his Bonapartist way of throwing his weight around.

His recent attacks on the Brussels Commission and European Central Bank raised questions about his promises to act as a consensus builder.

Chancellor Merkel, who was chairman of the union a year ago, was said to have warned him about his ambition. “In Paris, Nicolas, you are the Sun King. But Europe is like Germany, a coalition of diverging interests. You need a lot of patience and skill,” she was quoted as saying in Le Telegramme newspaper.

It was Ms Merkel who forced Mr Sarkozy to dilute his grand scheme for a French-led Mediterranean Union. She objected to the creation of a new club of EU-financed southern nations, including much of the Arab world, from which northern states would be excluded. The project has now been folded into the existing but moribund EU programme for promoting development in the North African and Near East nations on the Mediterranean.

The priority for Mr Sarkozy is securing a wide-ranging agreement on implementing the EU climate change targets, despite growing dissent led by Britain at the wisdom of the target for biofuels to account for 10 per cent of fuel by 2020.

He must finalise the details by December for the European Parliament to agree the package before it is dissolved for the European elections next June.

While the Irish Republic has been given until the next EU summit in October to come back with ideas for saving the Lisbon treaty, France is pressing the Czech Republic not to give in to its Eurosceptic wing and delay its own ratification.

The Czechs should be mindful that they should show leadership since they are to hold the EU presidency from January 1 after France, a senior French source said yesterday.

But now, denied a referendum on Maastricht or the abolition of the deutschemark, Germany may suddenly find itself being able to have a public argument about a treaty that has been presented by the political class as a done deal. There seems to be no hidden agenda to trip up Chancellor Merkel but the President's advisers wanted to avoid the situation of Gordon Brown, who pushed ahead with the ratification of Lisbon while it was still subject to a High Court ruling.

France in the hot seat

— France has four priorities for its term: energy and climate change, immigration, defence and agriculture

— EU states have agreed to cut carbon emissions by 20 per cent and increase renewable energy by 20 per cent by 2020. They have yet to decide how to achieve the goals

— Mr Sarkozy aims to forge an agreement on tougher rules on illegal immigration while increasing legal migration for categories such as skilled workers

— Boosting European defence, establishing an EU military headquarters and proposals for EU partners to share defence resources are likely to be prioritised

— Mr Sarkozy aims to reform the Common Agriculture Policy and there has been talk of giving priority to EU farm products and ensuring energy and food independence

Source: Times archives

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