How many more times?

In the Observer yesterday, commentator William Pfaff - an American "opinion writer" based in Paris – writes on "why Bush will fail in Europe". As the centrepiece of his argument, he writes:

Current transatlantic conflicts are thus not mere political disagreements. They derive from the nature of the evolving relationship between the US and a European Union that considers itself the sovereign legatee of the European powers of the past, and has a conservative commitment to the preservation of international order.

There we have it: "European Union that considers itself the sovereign legatee of the European powers of the past…". Does that sound like aspirations to be a "superpower", or what? How many more times do people have to say it – this one an ardent Europhile – before the nature of the EU's ambitions finally sinks in to the brains of the British political establishment?