chirac: the sick man of europe titles one of the main newspapers in france. and the financial times emphasizes in an article on june 19, 2005: his shuddering defeat in last month´s referendum on europe´s constitutional treaty has left the 72 year old french president a much diminished figure. his compatriots have dealt a telling - if not fatal - blow to the eu´s new set of rules and badly wounded chirac. his personal approval rating has crashed to just 24 per cent, the lowest level during his 10-year presidency. mr. chirac´s hope of using the referendum vote as springboard for running for a third presidential term in 2007 have now been dashed. he faces the prospect of serving out the rest of his term amid a mounting wave of political protests and social unrest.

dass in frankreich und europa das friedensprojekt europäische union mit dem protest gegen den turbokapitalismus á la lissabon agenda 2010 gestorben sein soll, daran will sauseschritt noch nicht glauben. dass es hingegen herrn chirac gar nicht gut geht, vermag nur sehr beschränktes mitleid zu evozieren. kommt da nicht manchmal gar nicht so klammheimliche freude auf?