France To Put Pressure on the EU

"President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is to push for a more assertive European Union exchange-rate policy towards China this autumn to try to shore up ailing exporters hit by the strong euro.

The move is the first concrete sign of Mr Sarkozy’s efforts – causing concern in Frankfurt – to influence the European Central Bank’s exchange-rate policy. French officials told the Financial Times they intended to raise concerns about the Chinese currency with Jean-Claude Trichet, the bank’s president, at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers before an EU-China summit in November.

But Mr Trichet has so far responded with icy disdain to any French attempts to influence the bank’s policy and there are concerns elsewhere in Europe about Mr Sarkozy’s ratcheting up the rhetoric towards Beijing.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister, who chairs the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, has adopted a softly-softly approach in his dealings with China – a policy backed by Mr Trichet and Joaquín Almunia, the EU monetary affairs commissioner."

I do like Sarkozy. I wish him luck on his efforts to influence China's exchange-rate policy and Mr. Jean-Claude Trichet.