The importance of the issues at stake were underlined by Al Gore, the former American vice-president and environmental activist, who said on a visit to Brussels that the EU had an "absolutely critical leadership role to play". Mr Gore argued: "I'm trying to get my country to change its policies but in the meantime the European Union is absolutely key to helping the world make the changes it must."He won't get elected in 2008 - won't even run - but imagine his campaign in 2012 after he's convinced the EU to commit economic suicide. He can argue that he had single-handedly subdued America's chief rival in the global economy.
He'll romp home elected as a true hero of the twenty-first century.
