France EU:5

This is our link-rich "we told you so" post. In particular, it's time for a reminder of the complete and utter pomposity that characterised the Republic of Ireland's period holding the rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of last year, the period that produced every element of the debacle in France yesterday: the Constitution itself, the 10 country enlargement to which French voters clearly reacted so badly, and the overall sense of an EU driven by elite priorities.

In that light, consider the antics of the time. The Charlemagne Award given to crackpot economics enthusiast Pat Cox, then President of the European Parliament; the diversion of scarce Irish police time to escorting VIP limousine corteges from 15 countries, the Day of Welcomes for the Polish plumbers etc, the Seamus Heaney poetry associated therewith, the harsh review of the Heaney poem that got another reviewer barred from the Irish Times. And let us remember Bertie Ahern's final brilliant compromise -- the selection of then Portugese PM Barroso as President of the European Commission, a man whose every appearance on French television to argue for a Yes vote added a few basis points to the No Vote. He should have stuck to his role as That Other Chump at the Azores summit.