Dail Sketch/Frank McNally: Like Napoleon before him, Bertie Ahern has big plans for Europe. With his responsibilities now extending from Ballybough to the Balkans, the Taoiseach is a dramatic example of EU enlargement.
But there are signs he is growing into the role, and already you wonder how he will adjust come June, when he's reduced to running a small country again.
It's not often that Mr Ahern's Dáil replies excite admiration for their breadth of detail. There was such an occasion yesterday, however, when he was asked to list his recent EU meetings, and his travel plans for 2004. After a marathon reply, which featured more foreign cities than Napoleon's European tour of 1801-15, even he could not resist a rueful grin.
The venues went far beyond the EU: there's a planned advance on Moscow (for the EU-Russia summit), plus meetings in Mexico, Tokyo, Ottawa, and Istanbul. Bilaterals, trilaterals, multilaterals, and meetings on the margin: you name it and the Taoiseach will be attending. For once, the Opposition could hardly claim he was not doing enough about something, so nobody even tried.
Enda Kenny suggested there would be little time for canvassing "in Ringsend or Coolock". And agreeing that it was an "absolutely punishing schedule," Pat Rabbitte marvelled that Mr Ahern had found time to travel to Parnell Park last Sunday for the bilateral meeting of Dublin and Tyrone. Only in the interests of "sanity", the Taoiseach quipped.
But there was no hint that the Taoiseach's sanity was under threat from his schedule. On the contrary, he appeared to be thriving. For all the Government's attempts to play down the chance of brokering agreement on the EU constitution, the little corporal from Drumcondra was clearly warming to the task.
Already, the Taoiseach had identified 20 issues of difference between member-states, and the next task was to narrow these down before the Inter-Governmental conference. As for big issues, he had talked to the leaders of Spain and Poland, and now had a "very good understanding of their positions".
In between sorting out the continent, the Taoiseach will go to Washington in March as usual for the shamrock summit. Mr Rabbitte asked, mischievously, if he would be raising the issue of how the US "misled" him on Iraq.
But with the gravitas that being Emperor of Europe bestows, Mr Ahern confirmed that he recalled exactly what President Bush "and Dick Cheney, in particular" told him last year, and yes, he would be raising it. The White House can only hope he does not declare war on the American colonies.
Now fully conversant with EU terminology, Mr Ahern casually deployed words such as "the clutch" and "the brake", in the context of decisions about co-operation on justice and home affairs. "Everybody is using these terms," he enthused, for describing "how far to go". Clearly enjoying himself at the controls, Mr Ahern has gone far himself, and for the moment there's no stopping him.