Britannia Radio

Sarkozy is turning from a irritating egotist into a power-seeking 
demagogue - and a dangerous one too.  He seems to be in a state of 
near hysteria about having finished his stint as EU president and 
being relegated back to his French base.  For this he takes it out on 
the Czechs.

Before he makes further remarks about Britain he should square up to 
the fact that the ex Rover plant at Cofton Hacket produces the bulk 
of Peugeot /Citroen engines (and all the MINI engines and many for 
BMW's 1 series cars too), while the Ford Bridgend plant produces 
engines for Renault, Volvo and Peugeot/Citroen in the larger sizes.

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EU OBSERVER     9.2.09
Czechs blast 'protectionist' comments by Sarkozy
HONOR MAHONY

Prague has reacted with anger to remarks made by French President 
Nicolas Sarkozy on moving French car companies back from the Czech 
Republic, saying the comments endanger ratification of the EU treaty 
in the central European member state.

"If someone wanted to really jeopardise the ratification of the 
Lisbon Treaty, he could not have chosen a better way and a better 
time," Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek told the Hospodarske 
Noviny daily, reports AFP.

Calling the remarks "incredible", Mr Topolanek said: "I don't want to 
scaremonger, I will vote in favour of Lisbon, but here is a big 
country taking decisions on what will affect our lives."

In an unusual step, Prague, which currently holds the EU presidency, 
also released an official statement on the issue.
"As the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic I do not understand the 
argument that it is unjustifiable to manufacture cars for the French 
market in the Czech Republic," said the statement, with presidency 
countries usually reluctant to pick a fight with single countries, 
particularly a large member state such as France.

"The attempts to use the financial crisis to introduce such forms of 
protectionism and protective measures may slow down and threaten the 
revival of the European economy," it continued.

Prague was reacting to a speech on Thursday (5 February) by Mr 
Sarkozy in which he suggested that delocalisation of French car 
companies should be stopped and the companies relocalised. Carmaker 
PSA Peugeot Citroen has a plant in the Czech Republic.
"If you build a Renault plant in India to sell Renaults to Indians, 
that's justified, but if you build a factory, without saying the 
company's name, in the Czech Republic to sell cars in France, that's 
not justified."

The speech was an attempt by Mr Sarkozy to assure French people, who 
took to streets in their masses in late January, that he is taking 
action to protect their livelihoods in the face of the global 
economic crisis.

He will later today present plans to aid the French car industry, 
which would include loans worth about ?6 billion to car makers 
Renault and Peugeot Citroen, according to daily Le Figaro.

The French-Czech exchange highlights the tensions felt by governments 
throughout the EU as the economic recession starts to bite, with 
capitals starting to snipe at each other.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen recently hit out at European 
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso for making comparisons 
between Iceland - currently in financial meltdown - and Ireland.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's VAT-reduction proposals 
for tackling the economic crisis have been derided by France, Germany 
and the Netherlands.

The Czech situation however is exacerbated by the fact that the 
country has yet to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, with any moves to move 
the French company out of the Czech Republic likely to undermine MPs' 
already fragile support for the document.

The parliament is due to vote on the document on 17 February after 
already delaying the vote for several weeks.

In addition, Mr Sarkozy who ran the EU in the second half of last 
year has been a thorn in the side of the Czechs since they took over 
in January. He went to the Middle East during Israel's bombardment of 
the Gaza Strip on his own mission while the Czechs, as the EU 
presidency, were also there.

More recently, he implied that the Czech EU presidency was being too 
passive in its reaction to the global financial crisis
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TELEGRAPH    9.2.09
Letter - Sarkozy at sea

SIR - In his amazing outburst, President Nicolas Sarkozy alleges that 
Britain can't invest in industry (as he makes France do), "because 
they haven't got any left"

He talks without facts. The 2009 issue of The Economist's Pocket 
World in Figures records that in the United Kingdom, 24 per cent of 
the economy is industry, while the figure for France is 20.8 per cent.

Since the British economy is larger than the French, British 
manufacturing is about a quarter greater than French manufacturing.

Worst of all, French unemployment is, and for 10 years has been, 
about double the British figure. Gordon Brown may well be wrong, but 
Mr Sarkozy definitely hasn't got the answer.

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London N6