TIMESONLINE: Anglo-Saxon gibe strains relations with Obama
President Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the London summit if France’s demands for tougher financial regulation are not met.
France will not accept a G20 that produces a “false success with language that sounds good but contains no commitments”, his advisers said.
Asked if this meant a possible walk-out, Xavier Musca, Mr Sarkozy’s deputy chief of staff for economic affairs, said: “A basic rule with nuclear deterrence is that you do not say at what point you will use the weapon.”
The French threat dramatically raised the temperature hours before President Obama arrives in London today. If carried through, it would ruin a summit for which Mr Brown and Mr Obama have high ambitions, believing it vital to international recovery.
Mr Sarkozy, who blames the “Anglo-Saxons” for causing the economic crisis, told his ministers last week that he would leave Mr Brown’s summit “if it does not work out”. >>> Charles Bremner in Paris and Philip Webster | Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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Those key G20 questions answered: The big issue is: can they agree a plan to rebuild the world economy? But there are other pressing questions: Who should we be watching? What's in the Downing St goodie bag? And who's the new Carla Bruni? >>> Words by Jon Henley, Aditya Chakrabortty, Oliver Burkeman, Stuart Jeffries, Jonathan Glancey, Amy Fleming, John Vidal, John Crace, Paula Cocozza | Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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