The luxury of being small

I think I would instantly like Jean-Claude Juncker if I would meet him personally.  A man with many hats and an apparent constant flair of realistic optimism and persistent relativism that tends to fill rooms which otherwise would risk being overloaded with generally serious, less affirmative fellow governors on the many European summits.   I am starting to detect a  linear regression between the amount of backpatting, hugging and kissing a head of state or finance minister gets from Mr Juncker and the level of trouble the respective country is in, at that point in time.

He has done well for the subjects of the Grand Duke and Duchness of Luxembourg and in return they made him prime minister, five full mandates in a row.  No wonder other European heads of state and finance ministers welcome a lucky hug.

Possibly Mr Juncker's smooth abilities are a natural inheretance from his predecessors.  Through history Luxembourg has shown equal skill in simultaneously handle foreign royalty, generals and governors, and generally managed to be at the origin of multilateral foundations.

Three official languages amongst a population of much less than a million, half of which are immigrants, nearly nill natural resources or comparative advantages show not be a restraint for maintaining a prosperous and peaceful little nation. 

Perhaps there are more best practices to be envied and/or copied by the many mini-provinces and states around Europe that have not managed to remain sovereign throughout modern history.

I doubt Mr Juncker would have anticipated that taking on the presidency of the Eurogroup back in 2005 would be more than less of a part time back office job and I am afraid the Eurozone just got lucky with having a president who happend to prime minister a reasonable self governing country.

So when Mr Juncker declares it is about time Angela Merkel goes to Greece on what Germany calls a normal visit without agenda, I suspect he already looks beyond a rough day of local anger and protest and the manageability of an outcome we commoners will only learn about later this month. 

I cannot help wondering who will pick up the bill for the extra security arrangements this day.