eublues

Nigel Farage's Blog - UK Independence Party
What Monsieur le Président wants...
Thursday, 11th September 2008

An unusual invitation arrived in the middle of last week: le Président de la République Sarkozy invited the heads of the EU assembly's political groups to lunch at the Elysée Palace.

The idea was to discuss the results of the EU/Ukraine-summit, held at the same location, the day before and it was the first time that a president-in-office of the EU Council had chosen to involve members of the assembly, in this way. It shows just how keen Mr Sarkozy is to make the EU work. Nevertheless, I accepted.

As I was in Brussels, I was told to meet the other delegates, at 9.30 am for a car from the "parliamentary" pool to the station. Besides me, only someone representing the "unattached" members turned up. The rest had gone off to Gare du Midi in their personal, chauffeur-driven cars. This is a privilege extended to all "group presidents", but resolutely declined by me.

The Thalys train, which travels at 186 mph (or, if you must, 300 KmH) took one hour and twenty minutes, on the state-run railways, to reach Paris, making Network South-East look decidedly ramshackle – and all at the unbelievable cost of only €32 because, in France, members of the EU assembly are given special concessions. These, I feel sure, French tax-payers are more than happy to provide!

A motorcade met us at the Gare du Nord and took us to the Elysée for lunch. Outside the palace was a row of smart guardsmen – lots of gold-braid, but boots not up to Household Division standards – and the building itself is magnificent, smaller than Buckingham Palace, but tastefully decorated and surrounded by sumptuous gardens.

In the reception-room, waiters attend with trays of drinks and I make an exception, to my current week-off-alcohol, for an irresistible, antique flute of the presidential champagne.

The table is set for seventeen, including interpreters, and I find myself seated next to "Danny the Red" Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Paris riots, in 1968 and now leader of the Greens Group in the EU assembly. I asked him whether he saw any irony in his having lunch here, but he seemed to find it only too natural. For my part, representing UKIP, I found the circumstance quite extraordinary.

"Monsieur le Président de la République" was grandly announced, and I stood up, behind my chair, facing the table. A few seconds later, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and there was "Sarko" saying "very pleased to meet you", in rather well-turned English.

After greeting everyone individually he sat down and began to talk irrepressibly, explaining in detail how he sprang into action within days of the Russian retaliation in South Ossetia and prevented escalation to a larger war. He seemed genuinely to believe that he had achieved this single-handed. One could not help thinking that perhaps he did, although I was puzzled by his claim that he had acted on behalf of the EU because there had been no EU-summit before he went...

During this long, animated oration he somehow managed to clear his plates, one after another, as well. It was an amazing spectacle. Needless to say, the food and wines (I had to make another exception or two) were absolutely superb and, best of all, Mr Sarkozy invited us to smoke, chomping enthusiastically on a large cigar, himself. If he were not one of the EU's leading conspirators, he would be very likeable.

When my turn came to ask some questions, I started off with a polite remark about his energy and diplomacy and then voiced my puzzlement: "Surely, Mr Sarkozy," I said, "in those negotiations with the Russians, you acted as the President of France, did you not, rather than that of the EU Council?"

His response was very instructive. According to the interpreter, he said, "This is why Lisbon is so essential: if the conflict had broken out, still without the Lisbon Treaty, but under the following Czech EU presidency not much could have been done...

"What we need," he urged, "is a fixed, two-and-a-half-year presidency and a permanent, fully-fledged foreign minister..."

So there you have it: an EU state, with a "Sarkozy" at the helm, is his answer to everything.

He also told me that Georgia and the Ukraine could not possibly be absorbed into the EU unless Lisbon were ratified – to which I replied that this was one of the best reasons I had heard for rejecting the treaty. I was, of course, in a minority of one, but everyone around the table knew perfectly well that this view is very popular in the countries they claim to represent.

After two hours, lunch was over. Mr Sarkozy shook me warmly by the hand and we chatted for a short time. He really does impress me, as a person (although I would have preferred to meet Carla!) and he certainly contributes a new mood to EU politics – an even more unshakeable confidence that nothing can stop the Eurocrats' terrible purpose now.

The guests headed back to the motorcade, and motor-cycle outriders cleared away the traffic as we sailed through to the station. Tomorrow, on Eurostar, I shall have a sandwich for lunch (without exceptions) It might seem a little dull...

Henry IX

[quote=eublues;539748

The Thalys train, which travels at 186 mph (or, if you must, 300 KmH) took one hour and twenty minutes, on the state-run railways, to reach Paris, making Network South-East look decidedly ramshackle QUOTE]

... is UKIP a closet renationaliser of the railways??

SponPlague

The draft "Restoring Britishness" suggests:

And don't forget that part of the mess is a bungled implementation of an EU directive requiring track and maintenance accounts to be separate from everyday running...

Reg Anthony

Spot the contradiction here:

But that's just it, Mr Farage. You were not representing UKIP, you were, as you indicate at the beginning of your rather starry-eyed write-up, representing the European Parliament group which you head. Those are the circumstances which you ought to find extraordinary, for one elected as a UKIP MEP specifically not to give credence to the EU institutions.

Despite that precise mandate, by wearing your Group President hat you got yourself tangled up in an exercise where, as you also put it:

Making a few negative remarks about the Lisbon Treaty, permanent EU Council Presidents and further EU enlargement, in between the presidential champagne and cigars, is all very well. The anti-LT, pro-EU group you were representing would be pleased to hear you make such easy remarks without going any further. The enlargement issue apart, a Tory MEP could probably have said much the same thing.

But tell us, Mr Farage, how did your little lunch date further the cause of the UK's withdrawal from the EU?

And, given that Mr Sarkozy was able to use the Georgian crisis to bolster the EU's role in foreign affairs and was able to do so under existing, non-LT based arrangements for the EU presidency (irrespective of his remarks about the Czechs' ability to do the same, remarks which are in any case debatable because of the new "triple presidency" arrangements which mean that the French and the Czechs, together with the Swedes, are in effect holding the responsibilities jointly over an eighteen-month period), how did representing your Euro-Parliament Group at the Elysee lunch, which you even recognise as being part of the efforts to make the EU work, do anything other than help to affirm the EU's legitimacy?

Ah well, at least the Elysee wine was good. As you admitted to having the odd one or two, we can excuse the fact you forgot to eschew the fancy limo on principle on the way back - unless of course the gendarmes let your taxi into the motorcade...

gc

Interesting comment from a man who never actually served......

gc

Hilarious!!! ...And you don't do irony, Farage???

gc

Brussels press have picked this up... more embarrassment for UKIP.