Fri 03 Mar 2007French testiness with EU is part of identity
crisisFRANCE:France's European partners are growing
impatient with its determination to make the union in its image,
writes
Lara Marlowein ParisToday's summit in Brussels is President Jacques Chirac's
farewell to the EU, so it was fitting that the dinner for European
heads of state and government last night bore the hallmarks of
French participation in Europe: grandiloquent speeches and a good
fight, in this case over energy policy and transatlantic
relations.