Henry Kissinger once famously asked whom he should call if he wanted to talk to Europe. It was a snide comment about the weak accountability and unwieldy power structure of the European Union. But these days, as the E.U. grapples with a constitutional crisis and gridlock over both its budget and its policies, the answer to Kissinger's question, almost by default, could just be Peter Mandelson.
That might seem an unlikely role for a confidant and former close aide to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Since November 2004, Mandelson, 51, has been the European Commissioner in charge of...
