AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed the need for a "strong, independent" European Union in his televised New Year's address on Wednesday, in the final hours of France's presidency of the EU.
   
"In a period of crisis that the world has not seen for some time, I tried to change Europe," Sarkozy said.
   
"For a long time, I have had the belief that Europe should not suffer but act and protect," he said.
   
The French president pointed to the EU's responses to the financial crisis, the Russia-Georgia conflict and an agreement on climate change as evidence that "the world needs a strong, independent and imaginative Europe."
   
Sarkozy said Wednesday the French initiative to push for a summit between the G-20 heads of state and government had been essential to coordinate a common response to the global economic crisis.
   
France ends its sixth-month presidency of the European Union at midnight Wednesday, handing over to the Czech Republic.