Monsieur Omnipresident is wised up

What goes around comes around. Having managed for seven years to do without one, the European Council is resorting yet again to the tried and tested formula of a comité des sages to look into the future and tell the European Union how to prepare for the formidable challenges ahead. In granting President Nicolas Sarkozy's wish for such a committee, EU heads of government are cheerfully oblivious to charges that they are returning to their comfort zone of elitist, top-down policymaking. And we are all left trying to understand their motives for doing so.