"Not a time for inaction," Sarkozy tells EU parliamentarians

After the stresses of all that Japanese food and too much jaw jaw during the G8 summit, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, was back on home soil and safer territory on Thursday when he pitched up at the European parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.

He was there to outline his vision of the European Union until the end of the year (and beyond) as France has just taken over the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.

And it was back to his usual tough-talking ways as he addressed a largely appreciative audience of MEPs that at least this time appeared to listen and be interested in what he had to say.

Top of the agenda of course for Sarkozy is getting EU institutional reform back on track.

And that basically means persuading the Irish to come up with some sort of solution to their "no" to ratification of the Lisbon treaty last month, while encouraging the rest of the EU "to boldy go forward etc." (Excuse the split infinitive).

Pull yourselves together and get this thing ratified, was the general drift of what he had to say.

And to the Irish, there was the ominous warning that he would be paying them a visit on July 21 "to listen and talk and try to find solutions."

Sarkozy of course, along with many a politician has the trademark of listening only to what he wants to hear. After just over a year of Sarkozy dominating the French media and political stage, the rest of Europe is going to find out what he's all about.

Here's the link to the full story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7499143.stm

(Apologies. One of the few times I actually resort to using the highlight tool, and it ain't working. At least not for me).