New Leadership Trio Could Put Europe Back on Political Map

In his election night victory speech, Sarkozy declared that "France is back in Europe," after Chirac's years of antagonism with many of his European neighbors.

Then, within hours of the presidential handover on Wednesday, he dashed to Berlin to meet with Merkel.

Sarkozy is a strong ally for her vision of a slimmed-down constitution requiring a vote of individual parliaments rather than a vote of the countries' peoples. Merkel hopes to cement an agreement on the constitution with her European colleagues at a Brussels summit meeting next month.

Despite Sarkozy's personal support of a leaner treaty, he and other European leaders still must convince their Euro-skeptic constituencies that they should accept a document they won't have the chance to vote on. The 18 countries that have approved the constitution are fighting to preserve much of the original document.

Many politicians and political analysts note that there already are some sharp differences among the three leaders and that two -- Sarkozy and Brown -- are largely untested as stewards of their countries' full foreign policies.

Sarkozy, in particular, has a confrontational style. In contrast, Merkel, a former East German physicist, has quickly earned an international reputation for an unpretentious, conciliatory style that sometimes includes rearranging the seating at meetings where heads of government are arguing.

One of the most divisive issues facing the E.U. is Turkey's bid for membership. Sarkozy has unequivocally said he does not believe Turkey belongs in the union. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week appealed to Sarkozy to "overcome these prejudices." He added, "Turkey's E.U. membership is the peace project of the 21st century -- an alliance of East and West."

Some analysts blame European equivocation in part for the current civil unrest and demonstrations against Turkey's Islamic-leaning government.

"Trust in the E.U. is declining," said Senem Aydin, an analyst at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies. "Those negative sentiments are feeding into nationalist policies in Turkey. It goes to show how fragile the whole democratic process is."

At the same time, Sarkozy -- whose maternal grandfather was Jewish -- has indicated that his presidency will seek closer relations with Israel, a major shift for a country considered so hostile by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that three years ago he urged French Jews to move immediately to Israel.

"We tend to characterize the French attitude as anti-Israel and pro-Arab," said Amaya Bloch-Laine, the Paris office director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. "Sarkozy obviously took a strong position on Israel."

All West European countries are grappling with immigration issues, both the influx of new arrivals and discontent among the European-born offspring of older immigrants. Britain, France and Germany now agree that helping the African countries where many of the immigrants originate is the most effective way of slowing the illegal flow.

Sarkozy has proposed a "Mediterranean Union" that would tie southern Europe more closely with the Middle East and northern Africa.

But in the E.U., one of the greatest targets of internal squabbling is the issue of trade and protectionism. While Sarkozy has said he wants to renew France's role in Europe, he is also insisting that Europe protect its social welfare states -- a mandate many analysts consider contradictory in a competitive, free-market economy.

"The fact that we have new leaders does not mean all our European problems will be solved," said Michael Stuebgen, a member of the German Parliament from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. "But it means we have a new chance to address the problems."

Special correspondent Shannon Smiley in Berlin contributed to this report.