England Expects

Faces crack that smile so much, however I am well aware that the road is long…

Ok so they took ages, everybody was expecting a comment at 10.30 right after Chirac, but we waited, obviously plan B was a small no, not a stonking 10+%.
Finally they appeared, Barroso and Juncker, to a ragged but heartfelt round of applause. From the Brussels press corps!

Barroso told us that the Constitution was “faced with a difficulty”, but that all of Europe would line up to the challenge”. To be fair they seemed out of it.
He then claimed, in my opinion in a rather foolhardy fashion that “The French in the future will continue to listen to what the other counties of Europe have to say”. Whch will be a first if true.

Well if tonight is anything to go by I like this sort of listening.
Juncker was then kind enough to tell us that it would be “impossible to renegotiate the Treaty”. Which is good, but then he started warbling about it being vital to have pluralism as long as it came to agreement in Compromise in one thing called Europe.

Other gems dripped from his lips, “If we add those who voted No in order to create more Europe to those who supported the treaty then the Yes side would have won” and "Europe is not just for itself, it is there for the rest of the world too”, too laugh at?

Another favourite moment requires one to throw one’s mind back to the moment when Chirac phoned the state TV station to pull a Barroso interview.
So when Barroso was asked this question “What rôle did the Commission play in helping the French No campaign?” He was able to answer, “The Commission gave a great contribution to the debate in France…when we were asked".

For tonight I merely ask you to deal wit these three short words, contemplate them and repeat them

THANK YOU FRANCE