The southern French city of Nîmes was the venue last week for a political rally at which Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, set out his vision of the European Union’s future. “Europe must stop diluting itself in a never-ending enlargement. Europe must have frontiers. Europe must have limits,” he said.

Specifically, Turkey, though deserving of a special relationship with the EU, should never become a full member, Mr Sarkozy went on. Instead, he said, the EU should start talks with Turkey on forming “a common economic and security space”, a project in which the EU should include Russia, “which must not be considered an adversary of Europe but a partner”.