It seems that yesterday was a rather gruelling day for EU leaders with hours of squabbling over how to handle the looming Greek tragedy. Then cue left enters EU President, Van Rompuy, who, we assume, wanting to lighten the atmosphere, decided to announce that he wants to triple the number of Commission summits from four to 12 a year!
Why oh why must the EU's answer to everything be to call a pow-wow at which they can take yet another group picture to set on their mantelpieces?
It is a frustratingly common trend for European leaders to equate summits with power. Remember that rotating Spanish President Zapatero is organising no less than fourteen of them for his six month stint. But there comes a time to admit that quality and not quantity should be the key - as the by now infamous 'Obama snub' made embarassingly clear.
By the way, Van Rompuy seems to be on a bit of a roll, holding court in an old library and calling for an EU 'economic government', in addition to costing EU taxpayers some £20 million a year.
As we've argued before, it would be a mistake to write this guy off as a non-factor in the EU elite's pursuit of ever closer union.
Herman van Rompuy and his lacklustre leadership. He has been accused of having 'delusions of grandeur'. The leaders of the EU member states have met 10 times in the past 18 months. Mostly, they exchanged small talk. Barack Obama ducked out of European summit. The right thing to do.
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