Germany: The nightmare of Eurosceptics, that too much EU power is concentrated in too few hands, will come true tomorrow when President Jacques Chirac speaks in the name of the German people, writes Derek Scally in Berlin.
The French haven't marched into Berlin, though. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has asked the French leader to step in for him at a meeting of the Council of Ministers to allow him participate in a crucial parliamentary debate in Berlin.
"As far as we know it is a first in the history of the European Union," a government spokesman in Berlin told The Irish Times. "President Chirac will, in his closing remarks on Friday, speak on behalf of the German people. It shows how extraordinarily close relations are between Paris and Berlin."
Tomorrow's two-hour closing session in Brussels is seen as a formality and the two leaders will agree on a position before Mr Schröder flies back to Berlin. German officials will also be waiting outside the door to phone the chancellor if necessary.
Nevertheless, asking the president of France to represent Germany, if only for two hours, shows how far relations between the two countries have come since sinking to a low level at the chaotic Nice summit three years ago.
Observers said the Franco-German motor that had driven the European project was broken beyond repair. Then the two leaders gave the motor an overhaul to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty last January. Last month they lubricated it with a joint infrastructural investment plan worth an estimated €3 billion.
These days, Mr Chirac and Mr Schröder greet each other in public with bear hugs and even play public prank phone calls on Mr Schröder's wife.
The two leaders meet informally every few weeks and it was during the most recent meeting, in Paris at the weekend, that Mr Schröder asked Mr Chirac to cover for him.
The favour comes just weeks after a joint press conference in Berlin, when Mr Chirac followed up an answer from the German leader with what appeared to be a carefully-scripted, throwaway remark: "If the chancellor has said \ you can take it that it applies for me as well." Tomorrow it is Mr Chirac who will have the last word.