Meanwhile green group co-leader, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, described Mr Barroso as the "absent president of Europe".

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Mr Cohn-Bendit is an old pro, a compelling orator and a brilliant manipulator of the media.

ECONOMIST: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Europe��s provocative Green

So he hopes the irrepressible Mr Cohn-Bendit, by launching the Greens' campaign so early, will burn himself out.

ECONOMIST: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Europe��s provocative Green

Green co-leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit said her position would lead to a "big crisis" between the Parliament and the Council.

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But Mr Cohn-Bendit, though still a maverick, is not just a media-loving clown.

ECONOMIST: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Europe��s provocative Green

The Franco-German co-leader of the Greens, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, told Mr Orban that many Hungarians, including Jews and other minorities, were afraid because of Fidesz policies.

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French green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit accused the EU of being "scared" of challenging the regime of the ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, during a debate on 17 January 2011.

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It is led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Franco-German figure from May 1968 who is now more a bourgeois eco-romantic than a hardened rebel, and Eva Joly, a Franco-Swedish retired magistrate.

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Anything above 5%, says Mr Cohn-Bendit, would be fine.

ECONOMIST: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Europe��s provocative Green

Meanwhile, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the co-leader of the Green group, criticised the centralisation of power in Germany and France and argued that there was a "fundamental democratic problem" with delegating important decisions to the European central bank.

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