FRANCE’s entry in 2008 is a very endearing one because a prominent politician in the country will challenge former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s desire to become the president of the European Union. This is such a welcome piece of news as France is one of the nations in the European mainland which is very much concerned in what’s going on in the continent. In fact, there are two major policies about the European Union that I find admirable and worth emulating elsewhere in the world. One is in the aspect of tourism. The European Union has made it a policy to inspect all European hotels and resorts every quarter. Those who are found to be providing excellent services are stamped the blue flag accreditation. Another EU policy that I found feasible is in the field of education. Because Europe is peculiarly filled with people who do not speak the same language, it has been EU policy that each nation in the organization must teach a second European language to its students. Anyway, all European languages can be classified into two – Romance i.e. originating from the Roman language and Germanic which is the ancestor of all languages in the Scandinavian region. By the way, the name of the French politician who is set to challenge Blair’s running for the EU presidential seat is the current head of its Socialist Party, Francois Hollande. Hollande’s opposition was largely due to Blair’s commitment to move soldiers to Iraq

But Blair appears not to be conceding to Hollande’s stance. He is said to be currently courting French President Nicholas Sarkozy who is currently in the Middle East. Blair is of course currently based in the Middle East as the newly-converted Roman Catholic is the European envoy to the Middle East. Speaking of Sarkozy, the personal life of the French president has never been this exciting. It’s a living soap opera that is a respite from the monotonous everyday life of typical French. For example, the latest news about Monsieur Sarkozy is that a Parisian court has denied his ex-wife (and the former first lady) Cecilia’s request to ban excerpts of a book about her making derogatory comments against her ex-husband. Man, she still loves him after all what with her ex-husband now proclaiming to the whole world and even before his pope Benedict XVII that he will be marrying model Carla Bruni. Ah, that’s the life of a Frenchman you know. It’s such an excitement.

But despite that brewing excitement, Sarkozy is not to be budged. He remains concentrated on state affairs such as his proposal to host talks among warring religious factions in Iraq. France has been after all a harbinger of liberty. It wants all peoples in the world to be free to express themselves. For example, if you are a Christian or a Jew in Iraq, then you must not be afraid to practice your faith in that country.