‘A Europe that protects.’ This was Nicolas Sarkozy’s slogan during his presidential campaign. Europe was built to protect us forever from fratricidal war. This is now a given. Today, we expect it to protect us from the global storms of this new century, as fascinating as they are perilous.

This summer’s major crises have given the President of the European Council an opportunity to translate his words into deeds.

On 8 August, Russian troops crossed the Georgian border. It was the first time that an independent country had been invaded by a major neighbouring country since 1991, when Saddam Hussein sought to annex Kuwait. On 12 August, the President of the European Council was in Moscow, and then in Tbilisi. The Russians stopped 40 km from the Georgian capital. Two months later, they were back where they had started. In four days, the 27 European governments had managed to unite behind Nicolas Sarkozy in order to safeguard Georgia’s independence.

On 15 September, the collapse of Lehmann Brothers triggered the financial crisis. Less than a month later, Europe adopted its rescue plan, no less quickly than the Americans. In just one week, the energetic French President successively met Europe’s four largest financial powers, the 15 euro-zone countries and the 27 Heads of Government before going to meet George Bush at Camp David and then the Chinese in Beijing. A radical remedy has been used to beat the credit crisis, and a radical reform of financial capitalism is under way.

However, the battle has also begun on other key fronts.

Immigration. It has been 13 years since checks were abolished at the internal borders of the Union and our governments hummed and hawed about adopting a common position with respect to third countries. The 27 were unanimous in their approval of the principle of and guidelines for a common immigration policy under the European Pact on Asylum and Immigration. Controlled immigration is becoming the policy of Europe as a whole, as well as co-development aid in countries of origin. The days of mass regularisations, as carried out now and again to the detriment of all, are gone.

Security of energy supply and climate protection. Protecting consumers against fluctuations in the price of fuel, our industries against the cutting off of gas supplies by peevish suppliers, and the planet itself against excessive pollution: this is the goal agreed by all our partners, along with the desire to lead the way for the world’s other major powers, while encouraging our producers to make the switch to methods and technologies that promote sustainable development.

Reviving economic growth. Convalescent banks will take some time to become fully healthy again. The usual chorus of lamentations proclaims that the economic crisis was inevitable. The French Presidency rejects any notion of inevitability as false and is proposing very new joint actions to give fresh incentive and confidence to consumers and producers alike: the setting up of a (or a number of) European sovereign wealth fund(s) in order to protect the jewels of our industry against predatory raids, extension of the bonus-malus tax on a case-by-case basis, and support for research into the use of renewable energy sources.

Finally, protection against major military or terrorist threats. War may well be a thing of the past on the European continent, and the Cold War may be over, but this century is still a time of violence and fury. Bombs have killed in the subways of Paris and London, as well as in the central station in Madrid. French troops have fallen in Afghanistan alongside their British and Dutch allies. The Iranians will be able to strike European targets long before they have the range needed to threaten the United States. Creating a Europe of defence, within a new partnership with the United States, will for that reason be on the agenda of the next NATO Summit to be held in Strasbourg in April 2009.

In the meantime, the French EU Council Presidency will come to an end. Jean Monnet used to say: ‘Nothing is possible without men, nothing is lasting without institutions.’ It is pure coincidence that the Russian diplomatic crisis and the financial crisis both erupted at a time when the Presidency of the Council of the European Union was held by France and when France itself was led by a man of extraordinary energy. Thankfully. However, next year, we will need the Treaty of Lisbon, which will provide the Union with the permanent presidency and the democratic legitimacy that are essential if this momentum is to be continued, even when the astral conjunction is not quite so favourable, and the finishing touches put to a Europe that protects.

Alain Lamassoure, 21 October 2008