Sarkozy continues to go to it
Helen at EU Referendum's asking What on earth are the French up to?, and, after examining the current contradictions regarding whether there will be (or not) a referendum on the EU Constitution comes up with this assessment on what Sarkozy has in mind,

Contradicting M Chirac publicly, Sarkozy has announced that useful though the Franco-German axis was, it had to be supplemented in the enlarged union. His idea is that the EU should be run by a kind of a coalition of the willing or, at least, the large. Countries with populations of between 40 million and 80 million should form a lose alliance to dominate the politics of the Union. These would be France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland. I think one can safely say that these ideas, when they become public, will find little support in the other 19 countries.

Visitors to this blog that wonder why I report on Nick (who the natives call Sarko), might be pleased to know that the reason is that I see him as the next Al Pacino in the Corleone series normally taking place at the EU. In the meantime, Jacques apparently told Nick that he might have to choose between remaining as cabinet member or becoming president of their party, the UMP.