French President Georges Pompidou last week learned to his embarrassment that Europe has outgrown the era of Charles de Gaulle. Frustrated by the "unrealistic dreams" of his fellow Europeans—that is, their desire to tiptoe toward supranationalism by strengthening existing Common Market institutions—Pompidou fell back on De Gaulle's favorite tactic of obstruction. He threatened to postpone the first summit of the expanded ten-nation EEC scheduled for Oct. 19-20 in Paris. Not long ago the threat would have sent neighboring statesmen scurrying for a compromise, but the general reaction from most West European...
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