b'Member state divisions have for a longright to vote. The ruling Flemish Liberals, time undermined trade commissioners andwhich Mr De Gucht then headed, were encouraged trading partners to do an enduneasy about the idea. After months of run around Brussels, says Simon Evenett,debate, the party leadership convened a a trade professor at St Gallen university inmeeting where they ultimately agreed to drop Switzerland, who called the solar case atheir resistance in order to preserve a fragile brutal lesson in trade realpolitik.coalition government. But the next day, Mr In Europe, the China showdown has alsoDe Gucht stunned his colleagues by going on crystallised a debate about Mr De Gucht,television and warning that he might still and whether his stubborn determination isoppose any legislation. Guy Verhofstadt, then a necessary ingredient for a commissionerprime minister, was furious and Mr De Gucht trying to lead 28 sometimes wobbly nationalwas ousted as party president. governments in a common trade policy or has worsened the divisions.Hes somebody who - once he makes his mind up - sticks to it, and sometimes The solar dispute, over Chinese exportsin politics this is a little bit strange, says worth 21bn in 2011, is not the only onePhilippe De Backer, a Flemish MEP and in which the commissioner has struggledlong-time admirer. A former aide called Mr to corral support. France embarrassedDe Gucht quite fearless but added: He him at the outset of talks for a trade dealsometimes hits the nail a little too hard. with the US by refusing to put its film andDuring his time as Belgiums foreign minister music industries into the bargain despitein 2004, he nearly ruptured relations with the commissionsentreaties. That moveCongo, its former colony, after speaking appeared to confirm the worst fears amongout about government corruption. Closer some in Washington that the Europeans wereto home, Mr De Gucht courted controversy not serious about a pact they had long beenby likening a former Dutch prime minister pushing for. I think its a sign of the powerto Harry Potter. He also had to defend that key member states still have over thehimself against charges of anti-Semitism negotiations even at this level of maturityfor saying that it was hard to have a rational of the commission,says Stuart Eizenstat,conversation with Jews outside Israel on the the former US ambassador to the EU, whoMiddle East peace process. called the episode a bad omen for the negotiations.But it is his hardened views towards Beijing that have drawn the most notice and To Mr De Guchts defenders, the veryconcern. fickleness of member states confirms the need for a strong-willedcommissioner. WeHis investigations against Beijing - which know that member states dont have thehave also included cases against steel, courage and that in the face of Chineseceramics and Beijings alleged hoarding dmarches, they will always bend overof raw material - sometimes look like an backward,one EU official explains.obsession. But advisers insist that every In Belgium, Mr De Guchts willingness toinvestigation launched is the productof stick to his guns - to the point of sometimesheavy deliberation. shooting himself in the foot - is the stuff of polarising legend.I dont think hes embarked on a crusade against China. Its a crusade for free trade, He demonstrated it a decade ago when thesays Jonathan Holslag, director of the country was convulsed by a debate overBrussels Institute for Contemporary China whether to give noncitizen immigrants theStudies, who has advised the commissioner.219'