‘Back from Nice’. On 11 December 2000, the Austrian cartoonist Ironimus (Gustav Peichl) paints an ironic picture of the disappointing results of the Nice European Council and illustrates the disagreement between France and Germany over the institutional architecture of the European Union. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (on the left) and French President Jacques Chirac (on the right), depicted as EU ambulance drivers, are moving in opposite directions.