Europe view
Greek myths
There's no understating how angry Brussels is with Greece over the state of its public finances. The European Commission's normally benign diplomatic language has been replaced by an angrier tone, condemning the mess Athens has gotten itself into.
It's not that Greece is amassing huge debts and has shredded the Stability and Growth pact - there are plenty of others in the same boat - it's the fact the Greek authorities conspired to cook the books and let on they had the situation under control.
Like disappointed parents, EU leaders say Athens has to win back their trust and, in the meantime, will have to live with greater supervision. So might we all. The commission has beefed up Eurostat - its financial audit arm - and closer "economic governance" is rising to the top of the agenda.
Swift shot to the arm
On the day EU leaders were showing their half-hearted solidarity with Athens, the European Parliament was flexing its muscles vetoing an EU-US agreement which would allow sharing of citizens' financial data.
The so-called Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) agreement is a key part of Washington's efforts to track the sources of terrorist financing but MEPs were bold enough to defy the European Commission and the US, thanks to the bigger role the parliament has under the Lisbon Treaty.
The Swift was billed as a test case of whether MEPs had the nerve to exercise their new powers. They did and they were delighted with themselves. Hilary Clinton was openly miffed and wondered why Europe was thwarting her anti-terror plans, but the US is expected to find a work-around.
MEPs might even have enjoyed some positive headlines, had Greece not stolen their thunder too.
Germans not impressed
The Greeks can handle Brussels' disapproval but perhaps more crucial will be the mood of the unforgiving German taxpayer, whose hard-earned savings are being eyed-up every time there's mention of a bailout.
An online poll for the Bild newspaper in Berlin found that 82% of Germans were opposed to rescuing Greece. They would prefer to throw the Greeks out of Europe than throw open their cheque books, with the paper's editorial asking why austere northern Europeans should save reckless and dishonest southern neighbours. It's the deceit as much as the deficit that sticks in the craw.
All of this presents Angela Merkel with a sizeable domestic headache. Germany is working through its own problems; it doesn't need everyone else's.
Newly-installed EU President Herman Van Rompuy can hardly be too impressed either, although he hides it behind a mild manner. His carefully planned February mini-summit was meant to set the tone for more serious work at the formal gathering of big wigs in March.
His agenda centred on the Europe 2020 strategy for growth, along with some soul-searching on the way the EU was ignored by US and China at the Copenhagen Climate talks in December. But those plans were scuppered by the straining relations between Greece and the bond markets, and Van Rompuy became a bit-part player.
It was Merkel, Sarkozy, and ECB President Jean Claude Trichet who did all the heavy-lifting in hammering out a statement of solidarity with Greece on February 11th before seeking the backing of all 27 leaders a couple of hours later.
Van Rompuy was said to be part of the action but looked a little lost surrounded by such heavyweights. It was his first summit as Europe's first president but observers were underwhelmed by his performance, just as they were with the vague pledge of support EU member states offered to Greece.
EU embassies launch
The next big post-Lisbon project exciting Eurocrats is the creation of a single European External Action Service. This will effectively mean the EU will have embassies overseas as part of the oft-repeated desire to "speak with one voice" in foreign affairs.
However, the service is not designed to take over national trade promotion efforts and most countries won't be closing their embassies - for now. Diplomats at the new service will have to be careful not to step on the toes of national ambassadors and trade missions, as will the enterprise wing of the European Commission which has its own plans to open support centres for SMEs across the globe.
The EU already funds a business-advice service in several Indian hubs and, according to an internal memo, kindly leaked to your correspondent, is planning to open something similar in Beijing later this year. Next on the list will be Bangkok and Moscow, with more to follow.
The new centres will be all about helping expanding companies to understand the law, test new markets and find local partners but will not set out to win investment for the EU. On that front, it's every member state for itself.
The External Action Service will be headed up by the UK's Catherine Ashton but there are already rumblings of discontent about her performance as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
She has been criticised for not landing in Haiti waving the EU flag, preferring instead to leave the airspace for doctors and engineers. But there has been plenty of sniping to the tune that Europe was in the shadows while Hilary Clinton got to play international superhero - despite the fact that the EU had pledged more aid than the US.
Whether she can forge an effective EU foreign service will be a fairer test of Ashton's abilities. Nonetheless, in their first big month at the wheel, Ashton and the EU's President Van Rompuy are clearly still finding their feet.
