Downing Street Says » President Sarkozy

» Friday, December 4, 2009

President Sarkozy

Asked when the Prime Minister had decided that he was too busy to see President Sarkozy, the PMS said that it had not been possible for them to get together this week, but they would meet in Brussels next week and spent time together at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last week. Any sense that there was no desire for the two leaders to meet was not true.

Asked if a meeting had been planned this week between the Prime Minister and President Sarkozy, the PMS said that there had been plans to see if their diaries could coincide but those plans had not come to fruition.

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned by the tone of President Sarkozy’s comments regarding Michel Barnier’s EU appointment, the PMS said that people had to be careful not to exaggerate what President Sarkozy may or may not have said; the important point was that we had a British representative, Baroness Ashton, in the senior role of vice-president.

Put that the Chancellor had made clear his concern about Michel Barnier’s intentions in an article in The Times, the PMS said that the Chancellor’s article discussed the important role financial services in the UK played globally.

Put that the Chancellor had stated in his article that he was worried about EU regulation, the PMS said that we were always concerned about regulation that could potentially inhibit the competitiveness of UK industry, but it was not fair to suggest that the Chancellor’s piece in The Times was directly connected to any concerns that had been expressed elsewhere.

Asked if the Prime Minister would be asking President Sarkozy to send more troops to Afghanistan, the PMS said that the Prime Minister and President Sarkozy would no doubt talk about Afghanistan at Brussels next week but it was not for the Prime Minister to individually lobby heads of government in that way.

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