The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said, on Friday 7 January, she was pleased that “a country with the political weight and experience of France assumes the presidency of the EU Council at such a delicate moment”, citing the Covid-19 crisis, but also Russian pressure in the EU’s neighbourhood. “Because the voice of France speaks loud and clear. And France has Europe at heart”, she said to the media, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, at the...