French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe calms tensions with UK saying he has ‘not an ounce of doubt’ relations will thaw

December 23rd, 2011

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Senior French minister tries to calm diplomatic spat
Sarkozy reported to have called Cameron an ‘obstinate kid’ over EU veto

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 6:27 PM on 22nd December 2011

Tensions: Alain Juppe moved to calm the difficult diplomatic situation between the UK and France

One of the most senior members of Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has moved to calm tensions between the UK and France, following the war of words sparked by David Cameron’s use of Britain’s veto to block an EU treaty.

French Foreign minister Alain Juppe said he had ‘not an ounce of doubt’ that Anglo-French relations would soon be excellent again.

President Sarkozy was reported to have branded the Prime Minister an ‘obstinate kid’ for using his veto when he was unable to secure safeguards for the City of London at a Brussels summit earlier this month.

And the diplomatic spat was heightened when Mr Sarkozy’s finance minister Francois Baroin said he would rather be French than British economically, and Banque de France governor Christian Noyer suggested that the UK, rather than France, should lose its cherished triple-A credit rating.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Juppe denied that there had been a concerted effort by Mr Sarkozy’s government to stoke up tensions with London.

The comments ‘went further than their authors wished’ but there was ‘no need for excuses on either side’, he said.

‘There is not an ounce of doubt that Franco-British relations, that will become excellent once again as we have too much in common to allow them to deteriorate,’ said Mr Juppe.

Cold shoulder: Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to blank David Cameron earlier this month in Brussels

‘I don’t think the bridges are broken. I cannot imagine that we will push Britain out of the European Union.’

Mr Juppe said that France could not accept Mr Cameron’s demands for exemptions from EU regulations for the City of London as his price for signing the new treaty, which was designed to impose new fiscal disciplines on the eurozone.

‘Sometimes you have to say no,’ he said. ‘We did. And we did it without making a drama of it.’

SPANISH MINISTER ‘CONFIDENT’ ON ECONOMY

Spain’s
new Economy Minister said today the country would emerge from its
severe economic crisis, but failed to outline any new measures to help
the ailing economy.

Luis De Guindos said Spain ‘will
return to the levels of prosperity that we should never have lost’ and
that the country would regain ‘sufficient growth to generate jobs, which
has to be the government’s number one priority.’

De Guindos was speaking after he, and the new conservative government’s other ministers, were sworn in before King Juan Carlos.

Spain has the highest unemployment
rate of the 17 countries that use the euro with 21.5 percent, and is
running a swollen budget deficit at a time the economy continues to
falter following a near two-year recession triggered by the collapse of a
real estate bubble.

New conservative Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy named the cabinet Wednesday and it was de Guindos’
appointment that raised the most eyebrows, given that he once held a
presiding post in Spain and Portugal for U.S. investment bank Lehman
Brothers, whose collapse helped spark the international financial
crisis.

The French foreign minister acknowledged that London and Paris ‘don’t have the same concept of European evolution’, with Britain seeing the EU as a large market while France believes that the current crisis requires the development of common economic policies in the eurozone.

But he insisted that the Franco-British summit, postponed this month because of the urgency of the crisis in the single currency, will go ahead in February and will mark a further stage in cross-Channel co-operation on military and nuclear matters.

Mr Juppe’s comments came as a new poll suggested that Britain’s business community backed Mr Cameron’s decision to use the veto, which resulted in the other 26 EU nations beginning negotiations on a separate agreement excluding the UK.

Of more than 1,000 business leaders questioned by the Institute of Directors (IoD), more than three-quarters (77 per cent) said the PM was right to refuse to sign up to the treaty, compared to just 19 per cent who disagreed.

However there were signs of some concern over the possible repercussions of the move for the UK.

Some 77 per cent said that the use of the veto has changed Britain’s relationship with the EU, and of those, 53 per cent said the change would be negative and 33 per cent positive for the UK.

A large majority (85 per cent) of those questioned thought that the measures agreed at the summit will fail to solve the eurozone crisis, compared with just 3 per cent who think they will succeed.

More than four out of 10 (42 per cent) said the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area was affecting their companies, compared to 53 per cent who said it was not.

Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) said they would like to see the UK in a looser relationship with the EU, including 42 per cent who want a repatriation of some powers.

Some 21 per cent want the UK to withdraw from the EU while retaining free trade agreements, and 1 per cent would like Britain to leave Europe altogether.

Some 29 per cent of IoD members would like to maintain existing levels of political and economic integration, the poll suggested, while 7 per cent would like to see deeper integration, including 1 per cent who would like to see a full political and economic union.

Graeme Leach, director of policy at the IoD, said: ‘The UK’s relationship with Europe is dominated by political and economic uncertainty but the business verdict is very clear.

‘Almost two-thirds of IoD members want to see a looser relationship with the EU. There are also significant groups of directors on the other side of the argument, with 29 per cent supporting the status quo and 7 per cent wanting to see more integration.

‘The ongoing euro crisis is changing attitudes towards the EU and we simply don’t know what 2012 will bring.

‘SUPER MARIO’ WINS SENATE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Approval: Italian Premier Mario Monti

Italian Premier Mario Monti easily won a vote of confidence in the Senate today, signaling parliamentary approval of the government’s 30 billion euro package of tax hikes and pension changes.

The austerity package is intended to save the country from financial disaster and follows rising concerns in the markets that Italy will find it difficult to pay off its massive debts, which stand at around 1.9 trillion euros.

The vote passed 257-41, following passage in the lower Chamber of Deputies last week.

Had it been defeated, Monti and his government of technocrats would have been forced to resign. The new government is tasked with making sure that Italy did not become the next victim of Europe’s debt crisis.

In remarks to lawmakers prior to the vote, Monti said the package was ‘of extreme urgency and will allow Italy to face the European crisis with its head held high.’

Among the most disputed measures in the legislation is a reform to Italy’s generous pension system, which will require Italians to work longer.

Many of former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s loyalists, who make up Parliament’s largest party, also opposed Monti’s decision to revive a home property tax that Berlusconi had eliminated.

Unions staged strikes and demonstrations last week to protest the measures.

Monti has said his package of tax hikes, reforms and growth-boosting measures was the only way to save Italy financially and give young Italians a foundation for economic recovery and growth.

Data released Wednesday showed that Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, contracted 0.2 percent in the third quarter, furthering predictions of a mild recession in 2012.

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Now the French find themselves in a minority they are panicking
and trying to behave like normal adults

– Jim, soke of Peterborough Soviet EU, 23/12/2011 02:36

The French are now waving their white flag of friendship.

– mark, manchester, 23/12/2011 02:00

I am going on hunger strike on Christmas day to prevent the care assistants feeding me Brussel sprout puree. God save the King! Long live the Empire!

– Gerry Hat-Trick, UKIP Supporter, 23/12/2011 00:33

All of this madness but I still love the UK.

– Pierre, Paris, 22/12/2011 23:44

We don t want the relations with France to thaw we want them to throw us out of the EU… But of course that wont happen because of the money we put in.

– wind , in the willows, 22/12/2011 23:09

We should all push to get our referendum one way of the other. If necessary we should prepare to take to the streets and parliament with a sense of outrage.

– bony, brum, 22/12/2011 22:52

You binge-drinking British lager louts will still be drinking your twelve pints of Kronenbourg!

– Pierre, Paris, 22/12/2011 22:44

Of course they are coming around – now their tantrum has worn off they`ve remembered that the UK gives the EU £10 billion a year much of which subsidises the inefficient French farmers and that we buy more from the EU than we export to it. I just hope Cameron doesn`t get suckered into a deal the WE might all regret.

– Veritas, UK, 22/12/2011 22:20

I never buy French wine, French apples, French aftershave or French cars. I never celebrate with champagne. In fact I never buy anything French and I don’t go to France on holiday. So I’d say I’m doing my bit for gool ol’ blighty!

– Don, London, 22/12/2011 21:11

It’s about time the I o D came round and admitted they want looser ties with Europe. They only need to be really honest and admit that EU Rules are damaging their business and then Clegg’s guns are well and truly spiked.

– Gordon Webster, Dundee, UK, 22/12/2011 20:52

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