The unacceptable face...

...of old Europe.

Joseph Daul celebrates his victory in the EPP leadership elections in Le Monde.

“My main rival, Swedish Gunnar Hokmark, stood for liberalism and the small countries, whereas I incarnated the social market economy and the Franco-German couple… The deputies of the founding EU countries rallied around me in the third round of the vote.” He says he will “respect the commitments made by Hans-Gert Pottering” vis-à-vis the British Conservatives, saying, “There will be no concessions…. After 2009, I hope we will be able to keep them, but it is they who will decide. That said, if they leave, where will they go? Chez Le Pen?”

He says the German EU Presidency:

“will have to find an intermediary solution between the mini-treaty proposed by Sarkozy and the Constitution… The French and Dutch rejections should not be ignored, but we should respect the numerous countries which have already adopted it.”

“France needs to go back to being ‘European’ in its thinking, and admit that she is no longer the centre of the world. Otherwise she will be forgotten.”

Le Monde writes that Daul’s election “expresses the coming together of the German Christian Democrats and the French neo-Gaullists that took effect on the European political scene following the formation of the UMP in France. The EPP, dominated by the German CDU, initially brought together mostly Christian-democrat formations, including the UDF. M. Daul’s tight victory is evidence of the mistrust brought about by this new Franco-German political axis felt by the British and the parties of the new Eastern member states.”