France no longer has a leader
Chirac is already politically finished even if he is still formally in power for one more year to come. Villepin has shot himself down with the current CPE (Contrat Premier emploi – First Job Contract) crisis. Sarkosy’s obvious lack of vision reduces him to a pure opportunistic player. And on the Socialist Party side, the multiplicity of potential leaders is a clear sign that there is none.

UK is in a similar situation. Tony Blair keeps on getting defeated by his own MPs, and has to call the Conservatives for back up. Gordon Brown is the never ending N°2 who would like to become N°1 but does not dare to take power … a crystal-clear indicator that he is born to be N°2 … not one to lead.

Germany is not different. Angela Merkel does not even truly lead the government as she has to compromise with the SPD on almost every single issue. She has not yet embarked on any single major reform decision despite her electoral programme. The SPD does not know where it stands and has actually no leader at all. Schroeder has paved the way: you’d better get into business than into politics; it definitely pays more.

Italy is as always without any leadership. There may be a few would-be leaders such as those two who are about the face next week-end’s electoral competition. But none of them has shown any leadership capacity in the past years. Berlusconi has ‘car salesmen leadership skills’ which stand for crookery; while Prodi has already shown the width of his vision as President of the European Commission, which nobody even remembers he once was.

Poland’s leader comes from nowhere and heads to nowhere. Kaczynski is a president who seems to have forgotten that his country joined the EU, that neither Russia nor Germany are planning to invade Poland anytime soon, and that Washington has not even granted Polish citizens a visa-free access to the US .... despite the county’s alleged strength and status of ally.

Spain’s Zapatero is obviously taking his country somewhere with his policy focused on redefining Spanish identity in relation with regionalism. It is a bit too early to decide whether he is a leader or a follower. But let’s be honest: this one still stands a chance to appear as a leader. Unfortunately for Europe, he seems to have no time, nor any interest for getting actively involved in EU affairs.

Other countries are facing similar problems of ‘leaderlessness’. It seems once again that the only one with some European leadership potential is Jean-Claude Juncker. Let’s bet that the unfolding global financial crisis will allow him to demonstrate his skills … and who knows, will give him the opportunity to provide Euroland (if not the EU) with a leader.

What goes for Europe goes for the world too. The world leading-country, the USA, is leaderless too, leaving the world in a dangerous state of wild ‘leaderlessness’. Bush is indeed trusted by US citizens no more than Chirac is by his fellow French citizens. His international policy has fallen apart. Condoleeza Rice spends her travel time being insulted by crowds from Australia to UK (and I only mention the ‘Allies’). Dick Cheney, when he is not shooting at some friends after too many beers, is desperately trying to get the US once again involved in a war… this time with Iran and this time with no ‘Allies’ at all. Even Eritrea seems ready to resist the call. And Donald Rumsfeld is too busy right now patching up the US armed forces to have anytime left for anything else. The Congress has almost disappeared from political significance; while the judiciary system is fighting for the survival of its independence. And, I was about to forget, the intellectual leadership obituary: the neo-cons have killed themselves, some by committing intellectual suicide, others by killing each others.

So, what’s new in the West? Not much anymore. No project. No vision. No legitimacy. No trust A ‘globalized world’ without continental leaders, not to mention national ones. Leaders without leadership. Citizens without confidence.
Those leaders with no cause have everything in common: they brought the world to more dangers and unsolved problems than they inherited it when they took office. What a legacy for this generation of leaders! By the way, if Zapatero still carries along some hope, is it because he comes from a younger generation? Time to test the 40 something!

Franck Biancheri