Who’s Afraid of Greater Luxembourg?

An American friend, living in France sent me this New York Times opinion piece written by an author in London. Who’s Afraid of Greater Luxembourg? is a well crafted and interesting article about Luxembourg, its history and its present influence.

The author, Frank Jacobs, based in London, is very well informed and documented, and has some creative ways to picture key aspects of Luxembourg.

One goes back to the early speeches of Luxembourg Board of Economic Developemnt officials: Luxembourg is punching above its weight. The expression has recently become famous on Danish TV, where a reporter had stitched together almost a dozen of President Obama's comments about countries "punching above their weight". It has now become a category that includes everyone doing just great, like all students in a US elementary school.

I liked the "Bonsai State", though it may attract the ire of more sensitive compatriots. It well describes size, beauty, the need for daily care, survival and fragility.

We know De Gaulle's Europe from the Atlantic to the Ural. If after the punches, Luxembourg gains weight, will that be Lotharingia, or even Luxembourg from the North Sea to the Adriatic, the old buffer, a wedge between Merkozy?