Sarkozy Is Europe's New Clinton

Nicolas Sarkozy was the star of the EU’s constitutional summit last weekend, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with a virtuoso diplomatic performance reminiscent of the former president. The new PM displayed what Der Spiegel called ‘Clintonesque ease’ in solving big problems, returning France to her traditional role as Europe’s diplomat.

Confronted with an impasse between the Germans and Poles, Sarkozy hustled tirelessly, with winning informality, at one point working a room holding the microphone "like a stand-up comedian,"  the paper reports. A quarrel between Dutch and Belgian leaders then threatened the summit; the French leader scolded the EU founders’ into a grumbling peace. (More European Union stories.)