Inside the EU

These are extracts from a leader of The Economist (February 22). It refers to the minnows and the machos in the European Union.

"It has been one of the worst months imaginable for those who believe that Europe's assorted nations, from modest minnows to vainglorious machos, should be moulding a common foreign and defence policy and could match the clout of the world's greatest powers. Rarely, since the second world war, has Europe been in such disarray..."

The leader also speaks of what it calls "majority voting, even in foreign policy."

More extracts: "come next year and minnows like Malta and Latvia cannot stop the EU's other 23 countries acting together, but also that countries, especially the big ones, cannot be steamrolled. Not common enough?"

"With his abusive language (reference to French President Jacques Chirac) towards the countries likely to join next year, (he) has unwittingly illustrated how Europe's centre of gravity has shifted away from the old French-German alliance".

And some say we will be round the table. At least not like Lazarus, under the table to gather the crumbs.

This is the meaning of the word minnow: "Small freshwater fish (loosely used of several kinds, esp. stickle-back) (Oxford Dictionary).