01/03 Europe and Libya - Europe's backflips over Libya

Mar 1st 2011, 12:10 by The Economist | BRUSSELS

FOR some reason that I cannot quite explain, watching the European Union’s policymakers trying to keep up with events in the Middle East brings to mind an amateur gymnastics event.

Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, though a poorly regarded performer at home, pushed early and consistently for sanctions against Libya. A gold medal for his powerful run and ramrod-straight vault.

France’s Michèle Alliot-Marie humiliatingly slipped off the balance beam during the revolution in Tunisia. She has been replaced as foreign minister by Alain Juppé, who has been sure-footed on the Libyan crisis. As defence minister he was the first to call for Muammar Qaddafi to step down, and in his new post he is ensuring that France remains on the straight and narrow. His boss, François Fillon, France's prime minister, twirling on the pommel horse between domestic and foreign policy, made an impressive acrobatic twist by sending aid planes in to liberated areas of Libya. A silver medal, for an uneven performance salvaged by considerable artistic flair.

From my vantage point, Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, has been hard to spot. Instead it is his boss, David Cameron, who flexes the military muscle most visibly, sending in military planes and special forces to pluck Britons from the desert and now agitating for the creation of a no-fly zone. Mr Cameron deserves silver, but the British government's points had to be reweighted to account for its unfair advantage: less than a year in office, it has not suffered any injuries from having to cut too many dirty deals with Arab dictators, notably Mr Qaddafi. So a bronze medal, unfairly perhaps.

Italy’s Franco Frattini gets my vote for best recovery from impending disaster up on the parallel bars. He was comically out of touch at a dinner of foreign ministers on February 20th: he told fellow ministers that the unrest in Libya was insignificant, only to be contradicted by the socially networked Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, who pulled out his smartphone to update ministers with the latest Twitter feeds on the growing protests and violence in Libya. Mr Frattini later acknowledged the violence but tried to protect Mr Qaddafi by arguing that his downfall risked the break-up of Libya, the creation of a dangerous Islamic emirate and a wave of migrants.

By February 23rd, though, Mr Frattini had found his grip again, blaming the colonel for the “bloodbath” that was taking place. Italy agreed to allow discussions on EU sanctions to begin. By February 28th, with his options limited by a UN Security Council vote on sanctions, Mr Frattini was fully in line. He suspended Italy’s friendship treaty with Libya, in theory allowing Italian territory to be used for military operations. He spoke of opening humanitarian corridors to areas free of Mr Qaddafi’s rule. Indeed, he even portrayed himself as the true friend of Libya’s rebels, boasting that “only Italy is in contact with the new Libyan National Council”. Mr Frattini does not deserve a medal after his dreadful start, but he remains on the scoreboard after landing in the right place.