Stakeholders at the ready

The beloved EU commission president José Manuel Durao Barroso is back in his home country today to receive the "personality of the year" award from the foreign media corps.

Addressing the fawning journos, he bestowed upon them his considered comments on the "French situation", saying that there were "reasons for the EU to be concerned" about a victory of the "no" vote in the French referendum.

Nevertheless, José Manuel Durao Barroso remained optimistic, declaring that the French would "live up to the great French tradition" - France being "essential to this whole major European project".

Portuguese foreign minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral then joined in the love-fest with his own declaration of optimism, stating that if the "no" wins in France, it will not mean the end of the European project. "There is no need to make a big drama. There will be other ways to move forward," he said.

In many ways, it seems, the project is rather like Count Dracula. You not only have to kill it – you have to drive a stake through its heart as well. Presumably, that is why we need all these stakeholders.