... but, like the president, has given little indication of what that means in practice.
So far Sarkozy has given the French banks, starting with BNP-Paribas, everything they demanded needed, without constraining conditions like an equity swap. At the same time French companies are being strangled by lack of liquidities that are being hoarded by the banks. And did we mention banks started again to award large bonuses?
This looks like a choreographed show where the French side predictably rail against "speculation" and the British side against excessive regulation and threat to the British "financial industry".
Will anything change in practice? Caveat emptor.
Also note that Sarko has already managed to sabotage his protégé's debut, by running his big mouth -- typical. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
"I considered him to be a lightweight among lightweights," says one former Commission colleague. "It was impossible to talk to him about his portfolio in an objective and business-like manner. He was too dimwitted to follow your arguments." (...) "I don't think he has the political stature or intellectual clout either to get his head entirely round the brief or to see off Paris," says a former Commission colleague. "If an issue concerning a French company came up at the Commission, he'd automatically be batting for l'Héxagone."
(...)
"I don't think he has the political stature or intellectual clout either to get his head entirely round the brief or to see off Paris," says a former Commission colleague. "If an issue concerning a French company came up at the Commission, he'd automatically be batting for l'Héxagone."
Why do I get the feeling that this is Mandelson speaking in both cases? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
