Herman Van Rompuy is not yet of shadow but already exists

And if the new President of the European Union, the former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, bound up dispensing his critics and proves to be the personality which Europe needs in the aftermath of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon It is of course much too early to decide, but the first steps of a man who chose "intaglio", less for what it was that what did not, are encouraging. Yesterday the leaders of the "major nations" feared to see Tony Blair too charismatic personality and a potential rival, the leaders of the "small nations" did not wish that the first President of the Union is chosen in a great nation. Many countries independently of their size wanted to "punish" Tony Blair for his unconditional support for the war in Iraq. The nomination of the Netherlands Jan Peter Balkenende had aims to be a decisive barrier on the road to the former British Prime Minister. Once a consensus achieved between Paris and Berlin on the name of Van Rompuy, his candidacy became irresistible. Was it not the representative of a small country that, in addition, reassured by his lack of charisma It would not shade the "big of Europe".

Herman Van Rompuy is not yet of shadow, but "" already exists. Its first initiatives to break the Union of the economic crisis, its intense program of travel to make themselves known and to impose its brand "discreet but firm" to make Europe a player recognized on the international scene are welcome. The new President of the Union can benefit both to effect personal surprise and the novelty of its function.

Herman Van Rompuy is not, a kind of anti-Barack Obama Expected nothing from him and he can only positively surprise. Expected no doubt too many the first "non-white" President of the United States it may disappoint his warmest supporters waiting for him as the Messiah. To its immediate competitors to embody the Europe of the case, whether it was the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, Herman Van Rompuy is not only a new man in a new function. It is itself, i.e. for those who know well, a stronger, more intellectual personality, some would say also more brittle. He must find a perverse pleasure to deny all those who saw his appointment as proof that Europe is resigned, from the choice of personalities to the low profile out of the story with a big H.

However, if Herman Van Rompuy is really the voice which prevails over those of its immediate "competitors" in the coming months it will be hard to. In the aftermath of the Copenhagen Summit, the Union must make an examination of conscience. The good student world ecological class, the continent that was intended to appear as a model for the rest of the world has been neither followed nor, more serious still, taken seriously. Everything happened as if by mutual agreement the United States and China had chosen to deliberately ignore the European Union. This humiliation, because it is one, can be used by Herman Van Rompuy as of a weapon to mobilize citizens behind the Union and the person

This hope is too large or is it based on a series of rational paris The first poll is based on Van Rompuy himself human. Can the function once again create the body Can the President of the Union take authority, otherwise some form of independence from its "constituents", by his recognized ability to forge consensus between them Is it not in the logic of the recent history of the Union that the incarnation and the power move gradually but irresistibly of the Commission to the Council

And if the leaders of the major nations had finally the "wrong", i.e. the "right choice" and has had created a rival dotted today will become a reality tomorrow