Originally from: brentns
                        
If Jacques Chirac hoped to regain some domestic popularity through his European showdown with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the French press and opinion polls will be making grim reading.
The consensus of most commentary over the weekend was that the French President was defeated in the Battle of Brussels on the future of the European Union's constitution and its budget.
The centre-left newspaper Le Monde, in an editorial headed "Blair prend la main" (Blair takes over) pointed to the paradoxical effect of the French rejection of the European constitution three weeks ago.
Left-wing campaigners for the "no" vote in France had promised a plan B in which Paris would be able to impose a more "social", protectionist, anti-free-market Europe. In fact, the "champion of social-liberalism", Blair, had been placed in the driving seat, Le Monde said.
"The only plan B that exists ... is the plan Blair."
But much of the "praise" for Blair was ironical. His refusal to accept a freeze in the British rebate, even at a higher level than this year, was seen by the French press as a kick in the teeth to the poorer, new members in Eastern Europe who had been prepared to give up some of their own potential gains from the EU.
French officials also predicted that Blair's apparent victory in Brussels would be empty.
"If Blair had accepted the final compromise on Friday, which was extremely generous to the UK, he would have been in a position to call the tune for the rest of this year and maybe beyond," one French diplomat said. "As it is, even his allies are angry with him. He'll get nowhere."
France's Europe minister, Catherine Colonna, warned that the future of Europe could not be decided by one country wishing to impose its view. There could be no policy of "rupture" with the past, she said, only a collegiate or "consensual" decision on how to move forward. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331777