The mainstream German news media does not treat Daniel Cohn-Bendit as an important leader of the European Parliament. Cohn-Bendit is head of the Greens party in the EU, a function that seldom brings him into the German news media's spotlight. But at the the website of ARD television's highest rated German news broadcast, Tagesschau, Cohn-Bendit suddenly became a "leading EU parlimentaerian" - a star Thursday evening. Why? Because he opposes the decision of French president Sarkozy to attend the opening of the Beijing Olympics, which German chancellor Angela Merkel will boycott. Plus, Merkel has made it clear that she despises Sarkozy's decision to be at the opening, though he had earlier expressed reservations about attending. In Germany, if chancellor Merkel doesn't like something, even an otherwise ignored politician gets Tagesschau's attention. Cohn-Bendit called it a "disgrace" to attend the opening ceremony. Here's Google's English translation of the Tagesschu web page about Sarkozy.
