JUNCKER IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Well, no one else is going to say this, but the choice of Jean-Claude Juncker isn't that bad. He might well be a "fag-packet federalist", but the booze'n'fags'n'federalism are his most appealing traits: the problem is his record in Luxembourg as head honcho of a dodgy tax-haven, as Francis Wheen has pointed out. The European Parliament should have the key role in appointing the European Commission rather than national heads of government: only the European Parliament has a transnational mandate. And the Christian Democrats, dreadful as they are (though not as bad as Britain's Tories), won last month's European elections. I agree with critics that Juncker represents much that is wrong with the EU, but the real problem is that the parliament has insufficient powers. It should be the basis for a federal European cabinet government. I'd like Dany Cohn-Bendit as European Union PM, but his party would have to win a Europe-wide election first, and I think he's run out of time.