Governments across the bloc are still reeling from the crushing French and Dutch rejection of a first-ever E.U. constitution while the 25 leaders snipe at each other over recent failed efforts to clinch a new budget deal.
Tempers have also flared over the blocs economic and social direction, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair preaching the gospel of reform and deregulation but France and Germany insisting that Europe must steer clear of "ultra-liberal" economic policies.
"We have entered a turbulent period in European politics," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned recently.
Britains "record of pragmatism, and results-oriented action" raised high expectations, said Barroso. But he warned: "It will be put to the test in the coming six months."
Blairs rousing speech to the European Parliament last week, including calls for E.U. change and modernization, has bolstered the British leaders standing in Brussels.
"Your words are music to our ears," said European Parliament president Josep Borrell.
Other E.U. lawmakers admit to being impressed by Blairs pro- European vision - the British leader said he had always been a "passionate European" - but caution that it will be difficult to turn the rhetoric into action.
Often denounced as a closet Eurosceptic by his critics on the continent, Blair faces an uphill struggle to convince most E.U. policymakers of his new pro-European credentials.
Britain is not a member of the 12-nation eurozone and has opted out of the Schengen agreement on frontier-free travel. Its focus on free trade and cutting E.U. farm spending is often also at odds with mainstream opinion in the bloc.
Certainly neither France nor Germany are expected to shower any gifts on the British leader.
Both French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have accused Blair of torpedoing the recent E.U. summit by refusing to accept any change in the 4.6 billion euro British budget rebate without agreement to slash farm spending.
Blairs chances of securing a much-coveted deal on the E.U.'s multi-annual budget during the coming six months are therefore practically nil.
"The constitutional question and the E.U. budget will have to be sorted out by the following presidencies," said John Palmer of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre.
Holding out an olive branch, however, the British leader told the European Parliament that he did not expect an overnight change in E.U. agriculture expenditure but would be satisfied if the "process" leading to such reform was kick-started.
President Chirac, however, is expected to stick to his guns on keeping farm spending at current levels.
Chirac and Schroeder are also unlikely to forgive Blair for making no bones about his preference for the two leaders political rivals: presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy in France and German opposition leader Angela Merkel.
Most E.U. policymakers agree that unlike Luxembourgs Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Blair's predecessor in the presidency hot seat, the British leader lacks E.U-wide consensus-building skills needed to gulf the gap between the blocs bickering leaders.
"You either love Blair or hate him," said an E.U. diplomat. To work effectively in Europe, however, politicians have to focus on forging compromises, he said.
Blair - and his ministers - will also have to break away from their hitherto Britain-focused agenda to look at wider problems facing all 25 E.U. states.
Until his speech to the European Parliament last week, the British leader had steered carefully away from too-frequent contacts with E.U. institutions.
At European summits, Blair often left by the back door to avoid encountering non-British journalists and TV crews.
Over the last few years, Blair has in fact broken with E.U. leaders tradition of holding post-summit press conferences, preferring to speak solely to a selected group of British journalists or give short interviews to British TV networks.
As E.U. president for the next six months, however, Blair will have to get used to the rough and tumble of European policymaking, including fielding frequent questions from Brussels often unruly and large international press corps.
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