One good thing about the change of French governments

The Sarkozy Administration appears to have become open to the European Union candidacy of Turkey than the previous Chirac Administration.

I always thought it was both ludicrous and duplicitous for Chirac to, on the one hand talk about the Christian heritage of Europe as a reason to oppose Turkey’s EU membership bid, then on the other hand work to keep the would-be EU constitution as secularist as possible.

Of course, Sarkozy himself was originally against the Turkey bid, too. But, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who is rapidly looking like a serious practitioner of Realpolitik, convinced President Sarkozy to approach talks with Turkey with an open mind.