| Author (Person) | Carnegy, Hugh, Parker, George |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Financial Times |
| Series Details | 17.12.11 |
| Publication Date | 17/12/2011 |
| Content Type | News |
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The United Kingdom described on the 16 December 2011 as 'simply unacceptable' attacks on the UK economy by French ministers and central bankers, as tensions over the eurozone crisis brought relations between the two countries to a new low. Amid fears in Paris that France could lose its triple A sovereign debt rating, François Baroin, French finance minister, said on the 16 December 2011 that: 'The economic situation in Britain today is very worrying, and you’d rather be French than British in economic terms'. His comments follow remarks by Christian Noyer, head of the Bank of France, who said on the 15 December 2011 that credit rating agencies should be more worried about Britain, which had 'bigger deficits, more debt, higher inflation and less growth than us and where credit is shrinking'. Tensions between Britain and France had been rising for weeks and were inflamed when George Osborne, UK chancellor, compared market concerns over French debt with the situation in Greece. The ripples from the row spread far and wide with World Bank President Robert Zoellick saying he was 'deeply troubled' by the exchanges. The tensions in Anglo French relations came just a week after UK Prime Minister David Cameron angered Nicolas Sarkozy by refusing to sign an EU treaty on the eurozone debt crisis. But economists and political scientists on both sides of the channel agreed that France’s comments were motivated by more than just the fallout from the EU summit. It was as much to do with internal politics in France and the 2012 Presidential Election. |
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| Countries / Regions | France, United Kingdom |
