Charlemagne: Europe's tentative reformers

摘要

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago the discredited governments of continental Europe's biggest countries were stumbling towards their unlamented ends. Obsessed with political survival and assailed on all sides, the dismal trio of Gerhard Schroeder, Silvio Berlusconi and Jacques Chirac were defensive, self-destructive and cynical, even by Europe's low standards. Now Italy and Germany are led by governments that have already done a bit more than expected at the time of their elections. And next year's presidential election in France looks, at least for now, as if it will be contested by two of the more reform-minded members of the main parties, the Socialists' Segolene Royal and the centre-right UMP's Nicolas Sarkozy.