Seriously: my only hope is Sarkozy,
really :D
not because I trust him (if I had been French I would never have voted him!) but because of his boundless ambition, he felt in love with the power which can rise from a continental union and he will seek for it again… and if Lisbon will get in this can be a key to a stronger President of the Council, perhaps President of the Commission at the same time… but of course this couldn’t happen in 2009…

PS
Recently I started to think if it could be better for EU to have a stronger Council more and more similar to a real federal government with a very strong Parliament as a counter balance and a Commission just charged to safeguard the respect of the treaties. Well, I know this seems just abstract speculation.

Apart from that a rather dull and uninspiring year awaits pro-Europeans whereas Eurosceptics will be in for one hell of a year. The first pan European chance to ‘protest vote’ against the EU or unloved governments since 2004 – bearing in mind that since the 2004 elections we have witnessed the peoples of 3 member states voting against important EU referendums while the most citizens just watched the EU in pure Schadenfreude. To be honest, I’m scared. The 2009 EP elections have the potential to create similar silly discussions about Europe as witnessed by the Libertas campaign in Ireland or far-right anti-muslim campaigns across Europe… Whilst a majority of ‘moderate’ or ‘mainstream’ European voters will not go to the polls, those who actually go out and vote might just manage to facilitate the emergence of one or even two significant anti-EU factions in the EP.

We’re in for a tough year.

Also don’t think I am just against stuff! The atheist bus campaign tries to be a positive alternative to religion, and I would be happy to see a modern British republic!

You have already relaunched your web site and your No to God, the Queen and Barroso, so perhaps it is an opportune moment to think about what 2009 might mean for EU citizens.

Let us imagine:

1) Three or more Europarties field candidates for the Commission Presidency, giving the European Parliament elections at least some European dimension (and these parties an excellent media platform).

2) The economic recession makes a few more people realise that European level answers (incomplete as they are) give more hope than solo acts and protectionist moves.

3) Despite problems and tensions, the euro is strengthened in the eyes of the public, who see the greater vulnerability of national currencies.

4) Energy security shifts European leaders towards less obstructionism in foreign and security policy.

5) Iceland applies for EU membership and the negotiations are concluded in record time, because the country is already part of the internal market through the European Economic Area and participates in a number of EU programmes.

6) The Czech Council (not EU) Presidency manages to pilot the approval of the Lisbon Treaty through the only member state parliament that has not as yet voted for the treaty, namely their own. (Even Gibraltar and the Åland Islands manage to decide if they want to apply the Lisbon Treaty.)

7) The Irish electors realise that they need Europe with the Lisbon Treaty or they more or less gracefully bow out.

The British anti-EU opinion thrives until there is hardly anything left to opt out of anymore, but it takes the more farsighted parts of Europe well beyond 2009 to construct a robust, effective and democratic union, which has left the paralysing ‘liberum veto’ behind it.

9) Newly independent Greenland dreams of oil and gas riches, so it isn’t going to rejoin the European Union anytime soon.

10) After the most high-flying hype has been laid to rest, the United States and the European Union build a reasonably constructive relationship.