THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, has accused Gordon Brown of ruining Britain's economy and vowed not to repeat his mistakes in a frank interview which has sparked a cross-channel diplomatic row.
Mr Sarkozy, who is under pressure over his own handling of the downturn, made his remarks during a live 90-minute grilling screened on three television channels when asked whether he was considering economic stimulus measures similar to Mr Brown's VAT reduction.
In comments said to have caused anger in Downing Street, he replied: "The British chose a recovery plan by boosting consumer spending, notably by cutting VAT by two per cent. It is plain to see that it has brought absolutely no progress.
"When the English decided to cut VAT by two per cent, a certain number of politicians rushed to tell me that I should do the same. Since then, not only has consumption in England not gone up, it continues to go down.
"The reason is simple: because it's in people's heads. If the consumer no longer consumes, he won't change just because we add or subtract one VAT point, it's because he's scared for his future, he's scared for his job and says to himself: 'I must save, because bad times are coming'.
"In France, we chose investment because when we put France into debt by taking money to invest, in return we have assets, infrastructure. When you put your country into debt to pay for operating costs, you have nothing in return for your debt and you ruin the country.
"If the English did that it's because they don't have any industry left. Gordon Brown cannot do what I am doing with carmakers [giving them up to 6 billion euros]... in construction and other industries, because they haven't got any left." >>> By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Friday, February 6, 2009
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