One is clearing her head in the Alpine air, fine-tuning a campaign that should win her a second four-year term. Another has gone back to his native Lisbon to spend his sunshine rest on a big speech he hopes will earn him five more years in office.
Yet another is grappling with intimations of political mortality at home in Fife after 12 years at the top. A fellow European prime minister insists he is avoiding his usual opulent retreat, which has been soiled by seedy stories of prostitutes and pillowtalk.
These are just some of Europe’s leaders’ hopes and plans for the holiday season — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Jose Manuel Barroso of the European commission, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In August, the big cities of Europe thin out and close down. The government machines grind away in low gear and leaders try to grab some quality family, personal or cultural time. Except that many find it impossible. Because of their workaholic habits, the exigencies of the 24-hour news cycle and the ubiquity of the mobile phone and e-mail, a crisis is always only a phone call away.
If it’s time to get away from it all, some plainly will struggle. A few leaders will manage three or four weeks, others will be lucky to muster as many days. Some will get none at all.
Pity Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister of Sweden, which has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU. He won’t get much of a break.
“He’s trying to have a few days off. But it’s difficult. You couldn’t really describe it as a holiday,” a Swedish government spokeswoman said.
Nonetheless, it matters that modern leaders demonstrate an aptitude not only for action, but for relaxation too. Former US president George W. Bush did not have to fake it, seeming to spend much of his time in office at his Texas ranch.
Much more of a policy wonk, US President Barack Obama will manage only a week off the US’ east coast. The photo-opportunities will focus on a carefree politician relaxing with family and friends at a Republican billionaire’s estate on Martha’s Vineyard. But at least two more houses will be needed for traveling staff.
Merkel is hiking this week in Italy after taking in the opening of the Bayreuth festival with her opera buff husband, Joachim Sauer, last weekend. Her choice of holiday is both foreign and familiar — the South Tyrol is the bit of mountainous northern Italy where the locals speak German.
She has a lot on her plate. When she gets back to her in-tray in Berlin mid-month, she will have a mere six weeks before starring in Europe’s biggest election this year, fighting for a second term. She might have been forgiven for forgoing the summer break. But in a country addicted to holidaymaking, that might have put voters off.
And if you are Berlusconi, you can choose between at least 18 personal properties. The billionaire prime minister says he is trying to redeem a tawdry image by holidaying in the Abruzzo region, devastated by April’s earthquake. Chances are he will stay away from Villa Certosa, his Sardinian estate where the poolside parties have acquired a sheen of indecency.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including