Word: two
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Make that two states. On Thursday, Irish leaders aired outrage over France's illicit extra-time goal, including Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who said he'd personally take the issue up with French President Nicolas Sarkozy the next time they met. During a press conference later Thursday, Sarkozy met Cowen halfway, saying, "I told Brian Cowen how sorry I was" for Ireland's World Cup dreams having been derailed by Henry's actions, but adding that he couldn't intervene in an area that should be off-limits to politics. (See pictures of Sarkozy...
...become household names, but today, most Europeans will be scratching their heads at the decision by the E.U.'s 27 leaders to anoint Van Rompuy and Ashton to the organization's top two jobs. After all, the positions, which were created by the E.U.'s newly ratified Lisbon Treaty, were supposed to give a voice and a face to Europe on the world stage...
...recognized in Belgium for defusing tensions between the country's Flemish and French speakers - a quality that could come in handy with the 27-member E.U. - his low profile appears to have endeared him to his initial sponsors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The two leaders are thought to have balked at a big name like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as E.U. President, because they feared he could become a strong rival for the spotlight. Van Rompuy, by contrast, might have lightweight political credentials, but he was seen as the least aggressive candidate...
There was more to the choice of Van Rompuy and Ashton than their individual qualities. In the classic European tradition of horse-trading, the E.U. tried to balance out the top jobs according to political background, geography and gender. Indeed, the Lisbon Treaty states that the two jobs - and that of the European Commission President - have to take account of "the geographical and demographic diversity of the Union...
...ambition and its grandiose rhetoric. "They might both be very capable, but neither has any sort of international profile or experience," says Marco Incerti, Head of Communications at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think tank. "At the moment, it looks like two nobodies. But this is what comes of trying to please everyone when you choose these jobs...