Jul 8, 2008, 10:53 GMT
Cannes, France - There must be something in the air in Cannes: it makes even politicians act like Hollywood stars.
Informal European Union meetings tend to be the political equivalent of cinema popcorn: light, soft and quickly forgotten.
But the informal meeting of EU justice ministers on Monday and Tuesday in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes - home of the legendary Cannes Film Festival - produced flashes of glamour and drama that would not have been out of place in a mega-film trailer.
There was EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot, thumping on the table like an enraged director trying to get his point across.
There was Ivan Langer, the Czech Republic's bronzed interior minister, grinning and winking like Hollywood's latest action hero.
There was French Justice Minister Rachida Dati, the glamorous hostess of the day, dressed in an elegant black trouser-suit and semi-transparent blouse as she welcomed her VIP guests to the red carpet.
And there was French Immigration Minister Brice Horetefeux, thanking his counterparts for backing a French-proposed pact on migration, like an Oscar winner thanking his mother for her support.
'If I loved big words, I would even go so far as to say it was an historic afternoon,' Hortefeux beamed before reading out a list of the complimentary things which colleagues had said about him.
The colleagues he quoted included Germany's Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who was sitting next to him at the time.
There is certainly no lack of glamour in Cannes in July. Millionaires' yachts stud the glittering blue bay, palm trees sway in the breeze and the Palais des Festivals is ringed by the handprints of cinema legends from Brigitte Bardot to Nicole Kidman.
Even the most hardened EU ministers seemed to find it difficult to maintain their cool as they queued on a red carpet usually rolled out for the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
More than one politician nervously straightened his hair, ruffled by the Mediterranean breeze, before stepping in front of the cameras.
And more than one journalist pointed to the glamorous and mysterious blonde delegate in the gold-buckled shoes, whispering 'Who is she?' and debating whether she might be the Lithuanian deputy justice minister or the Italian under-secretary for European affairs.
But just like a film festival, there were film-noir moments to balance the glitz and glamour of the stage.
The meeting's main achievement was to get informal backing for the pact on immigration, an ambitious plan aimed at getting European and global states to boost legal and crack down on illegal migration.
Hortefeux, who directed the deal, said afterwards that 'if this pact is (formally) adopted, nothing will be the way it was before.'
But even while ministers were talking, the Spanish authorities reported that 14 African would-be migrants had been lost at sea in a desperate attempt to reach Europe.
And a few hours later, French police moved in to break up a peaceful demonstration by French pressure group MRAP (movement against racism and for friendship between peoples), detaining 24 protesters and preventing a German TV crew from filming the scene.
For all the glamour of the informal meeting, it is grim subjects such as those which usually dominate the justice agenda.
And when ministers return to them in the drab surroundings of Brussels' European quarter at the end of July, they will have their work cut out for them to translate the eye-catching clips from the trailer into a coherent - and effective - whole.
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