Journalism of Courage
France’s flamboyant President Nicolas Sarkozy has “insulted” three world leaders,including American President Barack Obama,over a brief lunch at Elysee Palace,a British newspaper has claimed.
Sarkozy suggested Obama was “inexperienced”,Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero wasn’t very clever and German Chancellor Angela Merkel didn’t share his foresight about how to tackle the global financial crisis over a lunch session on Wednesday,’The Daily Telegraph’ reported.
Sarkozy said the US President was “not always up to standard on decision-making or efficiency”,Zapatero was “not very intelligent” while Merkel “had no choice but to come round to my position” when she saw the state of German banks.
French newspaper the ‘Libération’,that published the account of the lunch,billed it as “a festival of me,myself and I” performed by Sarkozy.
It was a display of self-congratulation by France’s President over his handling of the economic crisis and the G20 summit in London this month,the British newspaper quoted the French daily as saying.
But Sarkozy also reserved some words of praise for his colleagues,paying tribute to Obama’s “subtle mind” and saying he was “very intelligent,very charismatic”.
On the Spanish Premier,Sarkozy said that intelligence was not a guarantee of political success. The remark about his brain power,reportedly delivered over dessert,was denied by the Elysee Palace. The others were not.
While Madrid has not officially responded to the slight,Spanish newspapers have reacted with incredulity.
