The Conservatives were accused by the French government tonight of "castrating" Britain's position within the EU by adopting an "autistic" approach that would take Britain off the radar.Speaking to the Guardian, Pierre Lellouche, France's Europe minister, described as "pathetic" the Tories' EU plans announced today, warning they would not succeed "for a minute".Giving vent to frustration across the EU, which has so far only been expressed in private, Lellouche - who said he was reflecting Nicolas Sarkozy's "sadness and regret" - accused William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, of a "bizarre autism" in their discussions.He said: "They have one line and they just repeat one line. It is a very bizarre sense of autism."Lellouche, one of the most Anglophile members of Sarkozy's government, made his remarkable intervention after David Cameron outlined a fresh Tory approach to the EU in the wake of the full ratification of the Lisbon treaty.
The Conservatives were accused by the French government tonight of "castrating" Britain's position within the EU by adopting an "autistic" approach that would take Britain off the radar.
Speaking to the Guardian, Pierre Lellouche, France's Europe minister, described as "pathetic" the Tories' EU plans announced today, warning they would not succeed "for a minute".
Giving vent to frustration across the EU, which has so far only been expressed in private, Lellouche - who said he was reflecting Nicolas Sarkozy's "sadness and regret" - accused William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, of a "bizarre autism" in their discussions.
He said: "They have one line and they just repeat one line. It is a very bizarre sense of autism."
Lellouche, one of the most Anglophile members of Sarkozy's government, made his remarkable intervention after David Cameron outlined a fresh Tory approach to the EU in the wake of the full ratification of the Lisbon treaty.
LOLZ!!! The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
And the second-place winner gets to be head of the Conservative party for two weeks. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
I nominate this case, The Unstamped Letter in The Outbox (4 Nov 2009), for MSNBC broadcast premiere, 2010 season. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
"I have told William Hague: go away for two to three years, in your political economic situation you're going to be all by your self and you'll come back. Go ahead and do it. That is my message to them ... You want to be marginalised? Well, you go for it. But it's a waste of time for all of us," the French minister said.
