THE MORNING AFTER
Commenting on the deal after a short night, an exhausted senior official remarked: "I've decided to simply be happy that the sun came up this morning."
One unrested EU official snapped: “It’s like a car crash in Naples: there’s two vehicles involved and dozens of people milling around, all with a different opinion about what happened.”
A senior EU source remarked of the half-life of summit “breakthroughs”: “In July we were happy for two hours; on the 26th-27th of October we were happy for about 24 hours; here we were not happy at all.” Nevertheless, the source speculated, things might turn out well in the end.
CAMERON
“Cameron overplayed his hand, plain and simple,” said one senior Brussels official. “This is going to cost the UK dearly.”
A French diplomat sniffed: “Cameron seemed to think he could come to a wife-swapping party without bringing his wife.”
One bombastic EU leader declared privately that Cameron’s manoeuvre was akin to trying to create an “offshore country” in the heart of Europe.
Brussels-based Irish think tanker Hugo Brady’s take on the Cameron strategy: “If you’re not at the table you’re on the menu.”
A grande dame of the British press pack in Brussels said: “Cameron has f**ked it up, and you can quote me on that. It’s all about the 80 hawks in the Tories, lead by Hague.” One German official joked: “Financial fog in channel, Britain cut off.”
TREATY CHANGE
The idea of fasttrack treaty change originated within the ECB, which pushed for very clear powers for the European authorities to intervene in national budget making. The bank’s stance was seen as a step too far by some. “You can have a loss of sovereignty,” said a senior EU source, “but, then, colonialism is also a loss of sovereignty.”
The illustration used by Financial Timesfor its online blog of the summit sort of summed up the way things have been for a while in euroland. It was a night shot of that hardy old fairground attraction – the roller coaster. Appropriate too that the photo was taken in the dark . . .
TAOISEACH
Sorry Ryanair: contrary to some reports, the Taoiseach flew Air France to Paris and took a Brussels Airlines flight to the Belgian capital.
Kenny cabin-mates on the Brussels flight included the leaders of Portugal, Hungary, Croatia and their entourage. Who got off the plane first is lost to posterity.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS?
Angela Merkel, asked if journalists would be seeing her again in Brussels before Christmas, did a double take before adding: “I have nothing in my calendar . . . yet.”