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Can the Germans be beaten at the European game?

Germany鈥檚 leader, Angela Merkel, has said are 鈥渘ot economically favourable鈥� and would be a burden on German industry.

The German car industry, which makes big luxury cars, is incandescent.

The carmakers don鈥檛 think the German middle classes would take, en masse, to the Smart car that I test drove the other day. For what it鈥檚 worth it doesn鈥檛 feel lightweight or flimsy. But you wouldn鈥檛 get many Christmas presents in the back.

Although European commissioners are not meant to put across the views of their country, they nearly always do when the game is big enough. And the German industry commissioner, spoke against the level of fines.

My first instinct was that if Germany opposes a move, it simply won鈥檛 happen. I haven鈥檛 really changed my mind but perhaps things aren鈥檛 quite straightforward.

Whether by accident or design, the commission has split the motor industry.

The producers of big cars, like the Germans, are on a different end of the see-saw to the French and Italian manufacturers. If others weigh in behind the Latin alliance, Germany will have to think carefully.

I鈥檓 told the German car industry itself is split and companies are quite capable of arguing against each other in private meetings with the commission.

Soon it will be "put up or shut up" time, as one insider put it. "Who stands up at meetings and says 鈥楤e more ambitious鈥�? Germany and the UK. Fine, it鈥檚 time to put them to the test."

It is true that Germany is in many ways a very green country, and environmentalism is much more deeply felt and deeply rooted than in Britain. The doesn鈥檛 sit very well with this.

My bet is that Mrs Merkel is a woman who chooses her words very carefully. 鈥淣ot economically favourable鈥� is a fact rather than an opinion, and quite reasonable as a holding statement.

Some say that she is personally in favour of the plan, and the challenge for her is how to sell it.

What of the proposal itself? Environmentalists although I suspect that is a continuation of their long-term disappointment rather than the genuine shock the carmakers got.

The targets haven鈥檛 changed from the beginning of the year, and haven鈥檛 taken into account the recommendations of the European Parliament, at least as far as I can see.

The aim is to cut the average car emission to 130g of carbon per kilometre driven in five years鈥� time. They would cut another 10g by what they call 鈥渢echnical鈥� means: whether different tyres or fuel.

What is new is the level of fines, and that is what took the motor manufacturers by surprise.

The commission equation, for those of you who don鈥檛 have to take off shoes and socks to do sums, is:

The number of grams of CO2 per kilometre by which the manufacturer exceeded the target X number of cars newly registered X excess emissions penalty for that year.

The last figure, the fine, climbs from 20 euros in 2012 to 96 euros for 2015.

It鈥檚 that 95 euro fine that really riles the Germans, so it will be interesting if it emerges unscathed, and what Mrs Merkel has to say when the leaders discuss this in March.

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The announcement on health has been cancelled. I can鈥檛 moan. Only the other day, I was complaining to someone about the way the European Commission didn鈥檛 co-ordinate its announcements, and how after a drought of directives we get them all coming along at once.

has, I鈥檓 told, decided that the focus needs to be on today鈥檚 announcement on carbon dioxide emissions, not on health. A spokesman says the plan will be put off until January for "purely agenda reasons".

Very sensible, if a bit last minute. Why on earth didn鈥檛 they make the decision weeks ago? I suspect this is not the whole story.

Insiders lead me to belive that Barroso wasn鈥檛 quite happy with the impact assessment: the document that looks at exactly what the new law would mean.

I get the impression he felt the figures weren鈥檛 watertight. My source says that the big difference between this commission and others is that they don鈥檛 just fling ideas out left right and centre: if a document goes on the table it's going to get through.

And that means having the best arguments.

Oh well. The Today programme led on the story this morning and the Ten O'Clock News ran my piece last night.

I suspect getting newsdesks to run the story again in the New Year might prove a bit difficult.

UPDATE:

The health directive has evidently fallen victim to left-wing commissioners and MEPs, who have been lobbying hard to prevent it benefiting the better-off.

They feel that those who can afford money up front and hotel bill and air flights will get an advantage over the rest. So, back to the drawing board.

But I think the commission also wants to have one big barney at a time and the extraordinary row over car emissions is first in the queue.

The commissioners meeting in college this morning will have their sleeves rolled up for a dust-up.

They just cannot agree basic figures about how to achieve the cutback in car emissions. The basic row is between the Germans, who make heavy cars, and the French and Italians, who go for lighter models.

The commission document at the moment has a big gap in it. There's a formula in it "a times x times b" where:
鈥� x = the weight of the car
鈥� a = er, we are not sure...
鈥� b = well, that鈥檚 yet to be decided...

So pretty meaningless. Environmentalists say this means the policy is near worthless. Given the environment is President Barroso's defining mission, he won't like that verdict. More as I get it.

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The team of surgeons in a hospital in stare intently at a monitor, watching a tiny knife tear into flesh.

Bruno Dillemans is one of the world's experts in keyhole surgery and it's fascinating to watch him manipulate long-handled instruments that allow him to carry out this delicate operation.

Although the tools he holds look a bit like pruning scissors, the procedure seems more like playing a video game as fingers on left and right hands flick in a confident blur.

The intestine on the screen that we are all looking at belongs to Sara Jane Snocken, a 35 year-old primary teacher.

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She is having to lose weight. She says she has tried all sorts of diets and exercise but nothing has worked.

She's paying around 拢5,000 for the operation and has come to Belgium for a number of reasons. " here are a lot lower; this guy has a very low morbidity rate so I have a good chance of not popping my clogs while I'm under. Plus his name is the one that comes up the most on Google."

And here she is waiting to go down to surgery, just four weeks after entering the words "gastric bypass" into the search engine. She compares that to the plight of her friend.

"She's been waiting five years and she's seriously obese. Even bigger than I am. Five years to get exactly the same operation because it's only done in very few places in the UK, and more people need it."

In the end, it was both waiting lists and her lack of satisfaction with that tipped the balance: "I decided to take it into my own hands and get it sorted out myself.

"For three years I went to the obesity clinic. Every time they said there's a two-year waiting list; it's not worth it; you could do it yourself in diet and exercise in the time. And, hello, it's still not worked, so here I am."

We both thought there was a couple hours before the operation, but a nurse comes in and tell Sara Jane to get ready. She's going down to theatre now, having handed over 拢5,000 in cash for the operation.

Cashback

But a planned new European law, which I mentioned last week, might give a future Sara Jane the right to claim the money back off the NHS.

I've seen the document and it goes rather further than I expected. It not only enshrines people's right to go abroad if there is "undue delay" but says people should have the right to seek any health care that would have been provided at home.

They would get back whatever it cost in their home country. If the operation or treatment is more expensive than that, people could top it up with their own money.

This would be pretty radical, and mean that Britain would have to adapt to a much more continental insurance-based system. But there is a potential opt-out.

If a Government can provide evidence that the impact of the law would undermine planning in their health service then they can partially opt out of the scheme.

They would be allowed to insist that patients get the green light from the health service before they travel.

British opt-out

It's widely thought that this clause has been stuck in to satisfy the British Government.

But it will mean patients have much less freedom in countries that invoke this clause. Sara Jane doesn't intend to try to get any money back off the NHS, but if the new law was in place she could try.

Under the main proposal, she would pay for the operation, prove that it is provided on the NHS, and then claim back whatever it would cost in Britain.

But if the Government invokes the get-out clause, she would have to get prior approval from her local NHS trust, which would first have to say that she needed the operation, and then agree a cost.

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She sits primly and listens, hands folded. He gestures expansibly and talks.

At last week's summit it was obvious that , which is meant to drive Europe, is not firing on all cylinders.

The political relationship between diplomats and civil servants is as strong as ever. But the leaders of the two countries do not get on. That means a paucity of common projects and new initiatives.

One experienced insider paints a fascinating picture. never opens her mouth without knowing what she is going to say. She has analysed every angle and decided on the best approach. Which she will express with moderation and caution.

, sitting in the chair opposite, can't keep still. He gestures with his hands, his arms, his whole body.

Ideas man

He fires off ideas, a dozen a minute. It's not just that he hasn't run them past officials: he's barely run them past his own brain, having just thought them up in the past few seconds.

I'm told Merkel has come to despise his habit of coming out of a meeting and telling the world that the person sitting opposite him has agreed with his latest wheeze, when all they have done is murmured polite interest.

She has poured public scorn on Sarkozy's , worried that it undermines the EU, and proposed, with a straight face, that Germany, despite its noticeable lack of Mediterranean coastline, should be part of the project.

They have taken their countries' foreign policy in different directions.

While she appears to have adopted what , lecturing China, and President Putin on democracy, , rings Putin on a regular basis and .

To the disappointment of Marxist historians, personality matters hugely in politics and diplomatic relations.

The Franco-German engine will not fail altogether but it drives a far more complex and diverse European Union than in the past.

And the personal touch is important. There is room for Gordon Brown to insert himself between the odd couple, but he doesn't appear to be about to take the opportunity.

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Thanks for all the comments on the Lisbon summit. The one that has been occupying my thoughts the most is perhaps not the most erudite.

But "True Brits'" list of historical figures whom he or she feels have been betrayed by Brown's signing nags at me.

I keep thinking who would be offended by being left out?

What's Wellington done wrong? Why no ? surely should sue.

But then that got me thinking what the list of true Brits (in fact, all Englishmen, apart from one English woman and a Welshman) had in common.

Not, as far as I am aware, a common view of England, Britain or Europe.

It is easy to see one thing the prime ministers all have in common: they led Britain during the two World Wars, although again I am not sure they would agree for the reasons for those wars or Britain's relations with Europe.

did make a decisive break with continental Europe - in religion, at least - and one that really has significantly affected Britain's perception of the continent.

had a running spot of bother with the Spanish.

But, more importantly, her spin doctors did a good job portraying her as the saviour and embodiment of England.

I am not aware of having any particular views on Europe, but I could well be wrong.

If I were a history teacher it would make a nice Christmas exercise to set the class: compare and contrast the European policy of three of the above. Sum up in fewer than 100 words each the attitude you think any four of the above would have adopted towards the Lisbon treaty.

You can tell I am fun at Christmas parties. But why not have a stab?

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Most important news by far:

The European Union has agreed in principle to send some time in the new year. The French president said that Kosovan independence was "inevitable".

Cyprus went along with this, saying it was the day after the signing of the Lisbon treaty and there was a need to show unity. But they questioned the legal basis for sending the force.

said it was "very important" that the EU had decided to "manage the next stage".

But it's quite clear there can be no unity over the central issue of recognising Kosovo.

suggested the mood was changing. He said there was a real feeling Europe was coming together from the spectrum of opinion that was on display at his first meeting of foreign ministers in July.

Lisbon and beyond:

Gordon Brown was adamant that the leaders had unanimously agreed that there would be "no fundamental constitutional change" for a good while and that Lisbon would be "stable and lasting".

He pointed out that the treaty wouldn't take full effect until 2017. And no, there wouldn't be a referendum.

Guffaws of laughter when he was asked to correct the impression he didn't like coming to Brussels: he listed a lot of things to do with globalisation that he was excited by.

Did he regret not going to the signing ceremony at the same time as the other leaders? He was pleased to be at the signing because the treaty was an important stage forward.

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This is likely to be the shortest on record. It starts at ten and is due to be over after lunch.

British officials say this is the way to do business: short sharp meetings with a couple of clear conclusions rather than forty pages summing up the last six months.

Diplomats say it is a good symbol of an EU that has agreed its last tinkering with institutions for a while and is getting down to business that matters to people of Europe.

I wonder. While the major topic open for discussion, , is of vital importance, the other main item on the agenda is a classic piece of Euro-waffle with fudge topping.

They're setting up a group to look at challenges to the European Union in 2030.

This started life as an election promise by , who is determined to stop from ever joining the European Union.

He proposed setting up to look explicitly at the limits and borders of the European Union.

This has morphed into a "reflection group" with a brief so wide that it's rather surprising there isn't room for Mr Sarkozy's main idea.

The group won't be allowed to reflect upon current politics, institutional matters, or the EU budget. Their cogitation will be confined to economic success, social cohesion, reaching out to citizens, the rule of law, security, migration, energy, climate change, crime and terrorism.

The closest their brief comes to mentioning the size and shape of the European Union is tasking them to look at the stability and prosperity of "both the Union and the wider region".

I know "Britain wins battle in Europe" is not exactly a brilliant headline but this does look like a Foreign Office victory to me with all the UK concerns highlighted and the original purpose emasculated.

Of course Mr Sarkozy may try to change the wording. A French diplomat told me that the brief doesn't exclude looking at future membership of the EU.

Much may depend on who chairs this committee. A number of names are floating around, including , and .

But the knottiest and most immediate problem before European leaders is Kosovo, which is still officially a part of Serbia.

As far as the biggest EU countries, and America, are concerned, negotiations are over, independence is the only way ahead, and is as good a plan as there is.

But Russia will block anything like that being adopted by the UN on the 19th December. The big players seem confident that the Kosovan Government will wait until after Serbian presidential elections on 3rd February before making the declaration.

The ball really is then in the European Union's court. It is all the more poignant because .

It was the first state to break away from Yugoslavia and the only nation formed from that country that has so far joined the European Union.

But there is no agreement on the biggest question: if and when to recognise the new state.

The biggest EU countries (France, Germany and Britain) are likely to do so quickly. Others, , are worried about the precedent this sets. So much for a united EU foreign policy.

So, over lunch, the leaders will attempt to find ground they can agree on. Ask French, German or British diplomats what they hope to achieve and in each case the answer is "unity".

They hope to persuade the doubters that everything has been done to bring the two sides together and that the talks between Kosovo and Serbia have been exhaustive and have been exhausted.

They want agreement to send a , and detailed talk of personnel and purchasing of hardware is already underway.

But the British, at least, think that when it comes to the crunch this should be part of a package which includes recognition: there's no point sending a team in for the sake of it.

Also on the agenda: and globalisation.

UPDATE ON KOSOVO:

As the ministers troop in the cry is, as predicted, 鈥渦nity!鈥�.

But this is the reality. The Romanian Prime Minister says 鈥渢here is a broad interest to sustain a common European position".

"But there is one problem where we have a clear position," he says. "We won鈥檛 recognise an independent Kosovo because of the impact of the stability of the region.鈥�

Those who know more about this than me tell me he鈥檚 done a complete U-turn because he can鈥檛 get backing in parliament to recognise Kosovo.

On the editors' blog, the editor of the World Tonight Alistair Burnett, who鈥檚 very knowledgeable about the area expresses his frustration about the silence over this issue from Europe. But it's very complex.

For instance, one of the things that some hope will come out of today's session is an argument to dangle a quicker path to EU membership before Serbia.

But the Dutch are unhappy that means dropping the old tough position on bringing war criminals to justice. .

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All Gordon Brown needs to do today is get his red box trapped in a revolving door to turn his brief trip to Lisbon into

Perhaps his reluctance to travel all the way to the Portuguese capital is understandable.

It's on the eve of a Brussels summit and there's been much talk of unnecessary carbon footprints.

Diary clash

Mr Brown perhaps didn't want to be seen celebrating a treaty that evokes such passions back at home, and will reignite calls for a referendum.

Downing Street say it's a simple diary clash between and the signing ceremony. While I am not sure how flexible the MPs would be, I am fairly certain that the Portuguese could have been persuaded to move the ceremony if Mr Brown had asked very nicely and early enough.

This means that the European Commission will not get the happy snap they want.

The picture in their minds' eye was of 27 leaders, united, drawing a firm line under the sometimes painful debate of the last years.

Moving on

27 leaders determined to move on. 27 leaders signalling that and were a thing of the past.

Instead they will get 26 leaders united, and Mr Brown turning up half-way through lunch, with just enough time to swig a cup of coffee before heading off to sign the treaty on his own.

Cameras will, I'm told, be allowed to record this great event.

One commission source told me: "He's got himself into a position where he's upset everyone without achieving anything. He's handled it so badly: he's made it look like a dirty secret, signing it in a back room."

is said to be relieved that Mr Brown is at least going to go to Lisbon and will put his name to the document. At one time, as Mr Brown's people told he planned to skip the event altogether.

I am told it took heavy lobbying by , the commission and the Portuguese to convince Number Ten of what my source calls "the folly" of not going.

But perhaps Mr Brown has mollified the opposition? Not a bit of it.

says "Gordon Brown has even managed to turn something as simple as signing the EU Treaty into a national embarrassment.

"What will other EU leaders think of a Prime Minister who dithers for a week about whether he dares be photographed putting pen to paper? Does he think that other European prime ministers don't have diary commitments too? Instead of leadership we have indecision, gutlessness and broken election promises."

If every picture tells a story perhaps the two pictures will tell the true tale.

The picture we will presumably get later today will be seen by some as an appropriate symbolism on a number of levels. Many European countries always have seen Britain as a rather grudging member, and this will be a visual expression of that.

Opt-out

Some feel there is one treaty for 26 countries and then another slightly different treaty for Britain, with UK-only opt-outs and opt-ins and qualifications attached.

They will feel Mr Brown signing alone is an appropriate symbol of a Britain, which already has refused to join the euro, the passport-free area and common policies on migration; a Britain which is semi-detached from the European Union.

Of course that is what many, probably most, British people want but such semi-isolation is not seen as particularly splendid by other big players.

It will also be seen as a change. would never have let himself get in this mess.

It will be seen as a symbol that Mr Brown does not understand or care much about the European Union. The German Chancellor, the French President, the new Polish PM all made it to Brussels within days of being elected.

Mr Brown's first visit as Prime Minister will be tomorrow. I asked one insider if he was seen as an awkward customer: "He's not difficult. He's just not there. He's not engaged."

Many will perhaps feel he's spot on, in refusing to engage with this cumbersome and often frustrating machine but one can almost feel the frustration radiating off diplomats and the feeling that he is missing an opportunity to forge alliances and make friendships that could be important in the future.

UPDATE:

Gordon Brown has now signed the Lisbon treaty, in a different room to the grand auditorium where the rest put pen to paper.

He signed the big fat book on a gilded table , looking rather uncomfortable, and had to be persuaded to turn to face the cameras.

As yet no words. But no revolving doors either.

A little earlier the foreign secretary shook hands with the Portuguese Prime Minister who asked him "where is 鈥�?". Mr Miliband tapped his watch and said: "On his way."

There was almost a sense of sympathy for the man delegated to do the deed.

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Left-wing Labour MPs are girding themselves for a rebellion over which they say could spell the end of

will publish its health directive next week and it is meant to make it easier for people to travel to get specific medical treatment in another EU country.

British diplomats say this is NOT the same as making sure that if you fall sick in Slovakia or have an accident in Austria you can get treatment straight away.

It is what some people call and both critics and fans say it will allow people to shop around for health care.

The British Government is at pains to stress its going to be pretty limited in its impact. No wonder.

But is claiming that it would mean that patients could pay for private medicine in one country and claim the money back in Britain, and that could eventually destroy the NHS.

They've got 33 MPs to sign a motion condemning the plan which they say could be the beginning of the end for the NHS.

says it will be "catastrophic" for the NHS if this directive goes through.

"The Commission either has no idea what damage this will cause to our NHS, or they simply don't care," he says.

"It will allow the rich to 'top up' NHS costs to get better treatment. MPs and trade unions will do all they can to avoid this Brussels directive becoming law here."

鈥淣onsense,鈥� says Labour鈥檚 health spokesperson in the European Parliament.

鈥淚f it was like that we鈥檇 chuck it out,鈥� told me.

She says that the aim is not to promote people moving around seeking health care, but to clear up the current situation, where people get treatment, then have to go to the European courts to force their country to cough up for the cost.

鈥淲e need to have a law," she says. "At the moment it ends up in the courts. Nobody knows their rights.鈥�

Both Linda McAvan and British diplomats stress that your local national health trust would have to approve both the treatment and its cost before you go abroad. And the decision has to be taken on medical grounds.

This story is interesting for another reason : just how will it be portrayed ? 鈥ˋt one time I would have bet it would have been seen in certain newspapers as a threat that the Good Old NHS could be overwhelmed by a horde of sick foreigners.

Now its more likely to be "a savage indictment" (F8 on any good hack's keyboard) of the state of the NHS.

That aside, are the left wing MPs right that it鈥檚 the top of a slippery slope? Do you believe the reassurances? Or, for that matter, what on earth is wrong with health tourism?

Do tell me.

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I realise I haven鈥檛 replied to any comments for a while.

Be assured I do read them all. There is some debate around the date on which Sinterklaas arrives.

My Belgian friends tell me it is the 6th, which is Saint Nicholas' feast day. But many Dutch correspondents say he comes on the 5th.

Several of you point out the picture is of Santa Claus, not Sinterklaas. You are right, he happened to be on display at the ice rink in Amsterdam where my children were skating, so I thought I would snap him to go along with the Black Peters in the toy shop window.

I can鈥檛 remember where I first saw his horse being equated with Odin鈥檚 steed Sleipnir but .

I wish you all good luck in searching for the 鈥渞eal story鈥� but I think by the nature of myth one can expect a degree of inexactitude and icon-merging.

I rather agree with those who question whether it is racist to associate evil with darkness: I would be really surprised if cultures in Africa didn鈥檛 do so as well.

My point wasn鈥檛 urging some simplistic purging of language and imagery, but to highlight how the intertwining of several different traditions can create a layered meaning.

Political correctness? Well, it is a term I would love to explore one day, but it is often used by both sides as a fireblanket on debate, which I loathe.

There are plenty of comments of the 鈥渏ust get over it鈥� type, but there are also those from people who do feel hurt and offended.

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MPs will today debate the treaty of Lisbon which Gordon Brown may, although then again, . Officials still say with a straight face that they are trying to resolve a diary clash.

is indeed an important duty for the PM but the MPs who make it up are not completely inflexible.

Unless the usually efficient diary secretaries in have suddenly been overcome with incompetence, this is hard to swallow.

But it's equally difficult to believe that Mr Brown would have thought he would have gained any brownie points from opponents of the treaty by signing up to it, but not signing it in person.

He will, however, annoy other European leaders and the Commission, who may be reminded that, and both came to Brussels within days of their election, Mr Brown has yet to make the trip as Prime Minister.

about this clumsiness and the treaty itself.

I was struck, listening back to an interview with the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, how often he used the conditional tense: he is not accepting that the treaty, and the changes it proposes, are a done deal.

Indeed, he tells me that, if there is not a referendum, he will regard the treaty as illegitimate, although he doesn't want to spell out the practical implications of that for a Conservative government.

In the interview I focused on the implications of the treaty for EU foreign policy.

Mr Hague told me: "I am very worried about what is happening in foreign affairs. The creation of a European foreign minister is a major development. And is intended to be.

"In the new treaty he is called High Representative: that is simply a change of terminology (from the European Constitution). There are no other changes to the intended role of the foreign minister.

"So you do get here the structure of a "European foreign ministry and the drafters of this treaty intend that will create more and more power at the European level over time."

The treaty does state in black and white that Britain will not lose any control over its own policy but Mr Hague is not impressed.

"There is meant to be legal protection in the treaty for Britain's independent foreign policy, but according to legal experts it is only a declaration, not legally binding protocol.

"This is something we should be very worried about that will change the dynamics of determining foreign policy over time.

"I don't think we would be told what to do with our troops in Afghanistan, but the atmosphere that would be created and the institutions that would be created would increasingly push us and other countries towards thinking that we have to have agreement on foreign policy across the European Union as a whole."

Mr Hague also raises a point that most of the others I have talked to about this have also spotted: .

This person is meant to arrange the meetings of the leaders of the nation state and it could be an intensely bureaucratic role, chasing up agreements and patching up alliances in back rooms.

But some want the person who gets the job to be "Mr or Mrs Europe".

The approving member of the cabinet of one EU country told me with a grin: "At last Europe will have a king!"

Mr Hague does not approve: "The President also seems to have a role in foreign policy, in the external representation of the European Union. It's not quite clear how that fits with the High Representative, so some institutional tension is being created for the future.

"But it also means that as well as a European foreign minister going around the world saying "I am the foreign minister of Europe" you have a president going around saying "I am the president of Europe" and that again is intended to accrue more power to the centre, over time, at the expense of the national states."

The shadow foreign secretary is of a book on , and points out it wasn't always clear that whoever held the title of would be Britain's leader.

He thinks the President's job could grow in the same way (some have suggested it could be combined with the role of ).

Mr Hague seems to be rather looking forward to the Lisbon treaty's passage through the Commons next year.

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is built to impress. The grand staircase is very grand.

A sweeping glory of red carpet, hemmed with banisters and pillars of different coloured marble, all gilded to within an inch of their life.

In the grey of a rainy London morning the chandeliers cast a little light on the scene, designed to awe visitors from around the globe.

also has a red carpet, but the backstairs to the are narrow and are more kitchen unit stone than real marble.

The Lisbon treaty will be signed this week, perhaps even by , and all say that one of its main purposes is to give the European Union a bigger profile on the world stage. But what does that mean for Britain's role?

At the top of the Foreign Office stairs is a series of pictures by .

In them .

In the most imposing, painted after the First World War, America, a tall lass draped in the stars and stripes, head covered with a red revolutionary bonnet, gets a firm handshake.

Martial France, sword in hand and a cock-crowned helmet on his head, waits in line along with Italy clutching the rods and axe that Mussolini had named his party for, and a pretty waif like Japan with flowers in her hair.

Belgium, tattered flag in hand, clings to Britannia's waist, displaying a pert bottom and flowing golden hair.

Serbia, , lies crumpled in a ball.

For those requiring, after all this supplication, refreshment is on hand, in the shape of fruit borne on the head of an African child.

Of course this wasn't a realistic picture, even in 1922 when the painting was hung. America had stepped decisively into European politics, not for the last time.

British rule

There was only a short period when Britain ruled the waves alone. British foreign policy has always been built on a shifting foundation of European alliances.

But does it now need a stronger common European foreign policy? No one I speak to doubts that one of the most important changes in the Lisbon treaty will be to beef up the EU's foreign policy role, by creating a new High Representative: the role that was called Foreign Minister in the defunct constitution.

, Lord Patten, used to be .

It is that job that will be merged with the current role of High Representative to create the new role.

The new High Rep gets commission staff and commission money. He or she will also chair the regular meeting of EU foreign ministers, currently the task of the foreign secretary of whichever country is in the chair for those six months.

Lord Patten says it is right not to call the person the EU's foreign minister. "There isn't going to be a European foreign minister," he says.

"There will be 27 EU foreign ministers and, when they can agree, there will be one person expressing their point of view. The representative will have to represent what the views of the members states actually are, and it is sometimes difficult to squeeze out what those views actually are."

He argues that, whatever the changes on paper, the political reality remains the same.

"The Extremely High Rep, or whatever we are going to call him, has the ability to shape policy if he wants to do it because he chairs the Foreign Affairs Council.

"But while I don't wish to insult 24 nation states, anybody who is trying to represent Europe will have to make damn certain he is representing France and Britain and Germany. If you want to be a High Representative for long, then you'd better be certain you've got those big member states on board."

Reality gap

Lord Patten is scathing about those who he says are worried about "ghosts or noises in the night" and repeatedly refers to the "reality gap", a space in which he believes European dreams and nightmares feed off each other.

Anyone who follows EU affairs knows exactly what he means. European enthusiasts paint a vision of a future and eurosceptics react as though it has come to pass.

But when it comes to the High Rep, it's understandable that those suspicious of further integration worry about "mission creep".

There are still very big questions about the role, which will only be settled next year. Slovenia's ambassador has already said that .

Many of the details are, well, details. Complex and abstruse. But there is at least one bit that sounds wonkish but really matters. Will the High Representative, who after all will be a vice president of the commission, have the "right of initiative" that other commissioners have?

In plain English, will he or she be the servant of the nation states, or to a certain extent give them the lead?

British sources say the HR won't have the right to make or propose policy. Others disagree. Lord Patten says: "There is some lack of clarity.

"It's surprising that, while the Foreign Office have been nervously looking over their shoulder at what critics in the Telegraph or Times or Daily Mail are saying, they haven't sorted out those issues rather more clearly.

"At the moment, it seems to me one of the two or three questionmarks over the role of High Representative. He's not only chairman of the foreign ministers' Council but is also able to initiate policy and deliver papers to it.

"When I was a commissioner I initiated policies in some sectors but I didn't chair the council and I think there is at least a question over that."

Real world

Javier Solana, the man who is currently doing the job, has no doubt whatsoever when I ask him about this. He says: "He will be a member of the commission. Not only that, he will be part of the Council. As a member of the commission he will have all the rights attached to that position. The policy has to be adopted by the Council but he will have the right of initiative."

This is important but is perhaps pretty abstruse. What about the real world?

It has been notoriously difficult to find agreement on Kosovo, where some countries, like Spain and Greece, are worried about the knock-on effect of recognising a break-away province as a nation state.

Mr Solana's answer shows he thinks the difference will be in efficiency on the ground, rather than the making of policy.

"It will be very different. There will be a channel that can mobilise all the resources of the European Union. In Kosovo there are many problems that doesn't stop with its final status. We have to get an employment law, more energy, a more dynamic economy. People there need a lot of help. And the manner in which that help is given will be handled in a more coherent manner."

Lord Patten seems to agree: "Is the appointment of a Very High Representative going to make any difference in Afghanistan? Is it going to make any difference to whether we've got any policy in the Middle East?

Political will

"Unfortunately, I rather doubt it because you are talking about political will. I think the main plus to come out of this will be to pull the back office and the front office more closely together.

"It's become more and more apparent to me, when I was working in Brussels, that much of the real agenda of foreign policy these days isn't those age old questions of "The Eastern Question".

But the real issues are the impact of the environment on foreign policy, water management on foreign policy, epidemic disease on foreign policy, organised crime and the drugs trade on foreign policy.

"Those are areas where the commission has some responsibility. If you related that to the traditional discussion of foreign policy you might get rather further than we get at the moment."

He's dismissive of those who worry about a loss of British sovereignty: "The biggest issue to effect our sovereignty in the last few years has been our commitment in Iraq; without having any real say over what was happening there; which British servicemen and women were being shot at and being killed there.

"That is a huge sovereignty issue. Nothing, nothing, that happens in the European Union is going to be anything like that in its dimensions."

Is he right? Do we fuss about giving up sovereignty to the EU within a formal structure and not bother if it is handed to America? What about the other issues? Please do comment (and sorry if once again the technology has been creaking a bit).

Tomorrow William Hague's view of foreign affairs and the Treaty.

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Christmas comes early in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Children get their presents today, 6th December. And, of course, they get them from , as they call him.

Many towns hold festivals and parades when he comes visiting. But British and Americans, happily pushing their children forward to get a little present and an early glimpse of Father Christmas, tend to do a shocked double take when they spot his helper.

While recognisably the model for Father Christmas, Santa here is still quite clearly a Saint and a Churchman. He wears a long red robe and wears a golden mitre and carries a bishop's crook. He is kindly, but sober and very much the visiting dignitary.

Offensive side-kick?

Not so his side kick, Zwarte Piet. Black Pete is a rascal, a prankster, the source of sweets thrown in the air, with the dark possibility that he could put you in his sack and take you away if you've been really naughty. But that's not the reason for the double take.

Zwarte Piet is nearly always a blacked-up white man or woman, wearing a tight curly wig with big rouged lips, dressed in bright pantaloons, a big ruff and gold earring. A very old-fashioned, and to many offensive, caricature of a black man.

I wrote about this when I had only been living here a couple of months, but have been digging since then.

We all know the original Santa Claus, or St Nicholas, was . He probably attended the critical Council of Nicaea and was martyred by a Roman Emperor. His remains are .

But that's not where he lives now. You probably think he comes or the North Pole and gets around in a sleigh pulled .

Spanish connection

But every child in the Low Countries knows that he resides in Spain and travels north in a steam ship. In the old days, if you were naughty, Black Pete might give you a strapping or put coal in your shoes. But, if you were really bad, he might put you in his sack and take you back to far off Iberia.

The Spanish connection is easy. The lowlands were ruled from Spain under the Hapsburgs, and Spanish soldiers would have been both a familiar and exotic sight. Spain equals far away and foreign. And Saint Nick is not so daft if, like many Brits, he prefers the Costas to the tundra.

Black Peter's origins are more problematic. There are suggestions that he started life as a Moorish servant from Spain, a Turkish orphan rescued by St Nick, or an Ethiopian slave freed by him.

Some, squirming with embarrassment, explain that Black Pete gets black from soot coming down the chimney. If so it doesn't explain why he looks like a Victorian colonialist's supposedly humorous caricature of a negro. But perhaps Black Pete's origins lie further back and raise even more concerns about today's portrayal.

Among his miracles and good deeds, St Nicholas also had time to best the devil and medieval pictures show him with Satan in chains. And the devil is always painted black.

Odin's horse

But it's possible Pete is pre-Christian. One of his jobs is to look after .

He's an elegant but normal nag but curiously has the same name as Odin's eight-legged steed. And Odin is often portrayed taking dead souls back to the underworld. And guess what colour they are? Black.

Earlier, I deliberately wrote of Zwart Pete's "darker" side. It is this unthinking, Western link between evil, death, colour and coarse caricature that so worries some.

Others point out that it is Pete who's really loved by the kids, not the stuffy bishop, always adding that it's a bit of harmless fun.

Here, it's a debate that is as seasonal as Christmas itself.

(A version of this article first appeared in the December edition of 91热爆 History Magazine).

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, won't be standing in the next round of Euro elections鈥� and he's partly blaming the monthly trip to Strasbourg.

One of the things that's struck me since doing this job is that many people in the UK think that holding the main Parliamentary session every month in is a money-wasting junket hugely enjoyed by journalists, MEPs and researchers.

In fact it's a money-wasting junket loathed by journalists, and researchers.

Miserable journey

"The constant travelling inevitably takes its toll," says Mr Titley. "I can no longer tolerate the shifting of the Parliament lock, stock and barrel to Strasbourg one week a month.

"It's a miserable journey and it's always a problem," he told me.

"Monday is a day where people exchange stories about where their luggage went astray and what else went wrong."

He says it actually undermines the European Parliament real strength: "The plenary sessions in Strasbourg are a bit like a local authority's council meeting. All the deals have been done: this is for public display.

"We're condemned to these visits whether they are needed or not and they're often padded out with debates saying we are against sin. The real work is in committees which don't have enough time to do their really important job properly, undermined by journeys we don't actually need. We can't do the job properly while we go on this circus."

And he says that it undermines one of the European Union's latest values: "This is not only a colossal waste of time and money, but also undermines the EU's hard work to tackle climate change, as the monthly move is producing 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 13.000 transatlantic round-trip flights."

But , and the travelling road show such an important source of income for the city, that it's unlikely there will be any change in the near future.

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Draped over the white walls, beside a snowy sports pitch, the washing provides a splash of colour in Pavsino camp. The shirts and trousers hanging out to dry are just as likely to freeze through in the cold of a Ukrainian winter.

The men, bundled-up in sweaters and long coats against the weather, wander around in rather aimless groups, over-looked by guards in camouflage and grey fur hats.

They鈥檙e held in this camp, hidden in the woods near Ukraine鈥檚 border with Hungary and Slovakia, because they鈥檝e tried to cross illegally into the European Union, after making their way from their home countries to Ukraine without papers.

There are 364 men held here at the moment. They have all been caught trying to get across into Slovakia and most of them, 60%, actually made it over the border before being caught and sent back.

Asylum-seekers

say that everyone they catch applies for asylum. Of the thousands of people who have passed through here in the last few years, none has ever been finally granted that official status.

But the law says they have to be given temporary asylum while their case is being investigated, and can鈥檛 be held longer than six months. The authorities say once they are released most of them immediately try to make it across the border.

As soon as they catch sight of our camera, they cluster around to tell their stories. The uniformity of their view is striking.

They are all insistent on their right to look for a better life in Europe, and seem supremely undisturbed that their way of making that wish come true is illegal.

All complain about the general situation in their various countries, but none claims that they personally were subjected to specific persecution. They all want to talk mainly about the Ukrainian attitude and about the camp.

Vocal Somalis

The most vocal group, and the largest, are the Somalis. Nuh Hassan Warsame tells me: 鈥淚 want to go to the European Union but the Ukrainian police caught me and I鈥檝e been here for three months. I like London, England, Britain. I wanted to go from Slovakia to Austria and finally London. It鈥檚 a lovely place.鈥� Adding, 鈥�.鈥�

What would he do if he got to London? I ask. 鈥淚 am a refugee and I want to build a new life. I want to be a reporter.鈥�
Did he have a job in Somalia?
鈥淣o. There鈥檚 been a war for years.鈥�

There are men from Vietnam and China although none of them speaks English. There are Indians and a man from Sri Lanka who doesn鈥檛 want to talk on camera who says he has left his family behind to prepare a better life for them. Fahad Tariq from Pakistan is pushed forward by his friends to have his say.

鈥淚 was twenty kilometres inside Slovakia and they caught me there and they deported me to Ukraine, I don鈥檛 know why. I had taken 25 days to get there, by train, cars and walking. I gave them 15,000 dollars for this. There are problems in our country, there is an emergency and I wanted to get into Europe and stay in Germany.

鈥淚 want to do business there because I have a lot of money. I can do business here, I have qualifications in accounting. I don鈥檛 know why they are doing this.鈥�

Another tale from Karwan Ahmed from Afghanistan.

鈥淚 was found in Slovakia, I came from Afghanistan to Kazakhstan, from there to Moscow and from Moscow to Ukraine. I was about 40 kilometres inside the border but the police caught me in the forests.

"As everyone around the world knows, Afghanistan is in a bad situation. We need a life, the facilities that human beings need. I want to go to any country that would make me happy鈥�.

Would you work?

鈥淥f course we would work, we want something to eat. I was working in a shop in Afghanistan. We need a life, need a future.鈥�

While I want to hear their stories, they want to tell me about conditions in the camp. They say the guards and their bosses don鈥檛 speak any of their languages and don鈥檛 speak the language many of them speak, English. They claim they never get to see the benefit when the charities visit, and complain the food is always cold.

Fahad Tariq says: 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 give us good food, good clothes. They are giving us nothing here, even though the charities give money. There are great problems here, No blankets, not hot water, the batteries for heating aren鈥檛 working. They鈥檙e eating the money themselves, they are not giving anything. We are very, very, very unhappy鈥�.

Food and clothing

The man in charge of the camp, Major Anatoly Zhupanov, says everything the charities give is passed on.

鈥淭hey get clothing and food from a charity organisation and they get the same food as soldiers in the army. If you鈥檇 come here six months ago you wouldn鈥檛 recognise it now because the building was in a terrible state and all the money went for repairs.

鈥淭he inmates break everything, break the windows and don鈥檛 give their clothes back when they leave. They can move around in here freely, they play games, football, volleyball all day.

They get food and they鈥檙e just waiting. It鈥檚 difficult for them because they are waiting to get their asylum-seeker status. But when they get out, all they do is try to cross the border again.鈥�

The lure of the European Union is not going to end and I can see all Ukraine鈥檚 borders becoming choke-points for people who want to leave home and better their situation, whatever the costs and risks.

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