Word: luxembourger
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...move angered Eastern European and Scandinavian countries, which see it as an attempt to impose a two-state directoire on the E.U. The Benelux countries, meanwhile, are throwing their support behind their own Prime Ministers - Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium, Peter Balkenende of Holland and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg. (See pictures of Nicolas Sarkozy...
...seen his stock plummet - despite his celebrity, charisma and leadership qualities - since he was first mentioned as a contender for the job years ago. Now, the front-runners appear to be three low-key "fixers": Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. While all three may be somewhat bland and anonymous even in their home countries, they appeal to a growing number of E.U. countries - in particular the smaller ones - because they would excel at operating behind the scenes. (Read: "Opposition Grows to Tony Blair...
That struggle is playing out in the same Paris courtroom in which a French revolutionary tribunal sentenced Marie Antoinette to the guillotine in 1793 (a detail that may not thrill history enthusiast Villepin). At the core of the trial is the Clearstream affair - a scandal named for the Luxembourg financial clearinghouse where 89 French politicians, businesspeople and public figures purportedly held accounts containing illegal kickback money from arms sales. A list of those names - including Sarkozy's - was brought to Villepin's attention in 2004, but was later deemed to be a fraud by a top French spy called...
...Europe," says Philippe Moreau Defarges, European-affairs specialist for the French Institute of International Relations. "The U.K.'s habit of participating only in those E.U. projects it wants to be involved with" is a strike against a Blair presidency, he says. The Benelux countries - the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - feel the same...
Alternative candidates include a collection of current leaders: Jan Peter Balkenende from the Netherlands, François Fillon from France and Jean-Claude Juncker from Luxembourg. With the presidencies of the European Commission and European Parliament already held by men, equality campaigners have suggested female candidates including the former Irish President Mary Robinson...