The newly elected European Council President Herman van Rompuy's historical intervention at the Bruges European Academy on March 6 did not get the attention it deserves.
Van Rompuy is very well aware of his powerlessness. He was chosen by the Sarkozies, the Merkels and the Browns just because of his apparent lack of sex-appeal and supposed lack of ambition, over candidates like Holland's J.P.Balkenende or Letlands former president.
One thing is sure, read my lips, the man is terribly UNDERestimated.
Listen to his Jesuitic-, finely tuned-, rebuttal of sarkozist and insular British policies. Developing a realistic approach to the priorities of an European Union in a new era of political globalization.
Here follows a part of it (in English):
Even Eurocritic Tony Barber of the London Financial Times admitted graciously, that the Van Rompuy speech had class and substance, compared to the voidness of the actions and words of baroness Catherine Ashton, EU foreign secretary.
A full analysis of Van Rompuy's words is under review.
Download and read the full text of the Van Rompuy opinion at Consilium Presidential Service in Brussels (English).