The three ladies of Europe

The leaders of the European Union came together last Saturday on the Capitoline Hill to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in what was a symbolic display of unity at a time that can only be described as complicated. The meeting also produced the usual declaration of common values and goals, a text of compromise that as such was lacking in any real content and was aimed at making everybody happy. Even Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras found certain parts pleasing from a social point of view, though they were the same commitments made in the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was indisputably the dominant force in the proceedings, as other leaders appeared like - willing or unwilling - satellites around her. Merkel has the great quality of discretion in the way she exercises her role and even though she is the first woman to have been...