Archive for ‘Les Echos’ Category

NSA's spying against its allies created an intolerable climate. Europe has to henceforth suspend its agreement of free-exchange with the United States and require them to pledge their confidence. "What do we know? Nothing." The moral of the Coen brothers' film, Burn After Reading (2008), American intelligence industry satire, is particularly encouraging and promising for the millions of French who discovered that the American NSA spied on them, at the rate of 70.3 million intercepted communications per month. In the…

Between the BNP Paribas issue, the NSA scandal, the quasi-monopoly of the internet, and the ambiguity of the transatlantic treaty, our best ally has hit us hard in the past few months. "My God, protect me from my friends," said Voltaire. In two days, as we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the landings on Normandy, it is a good time to evaluate the quality of our alliance and friendship with the United States. This alliance and friendship has been unfailing.…

Two decades have passed since the launch of Jacques Chirac's partnership with China. Today, disappointment prevails in Beijing. It is time for France to revive close relations with China. "What is going on in Paris? It is as if everyone has gone crazy. Even worse: suicidal [...] Try again my friends! We need you, here." "Here"? We are in Beijing. My partners, Chinese business leaders, esteemed French experts no longer understand our country's actions. The list of dissappointments and missed…

"Now that you are a fact, we shall deal with you." In his Mémoires, Jean Monnet remembers, with humor and amazement, the ambiguity and pragmatism of British diplomacy, in the face of the emergence of the European community 50 years ago. After having splendidly ignored it for some years, then despised, and then dared to torpedo the initiatives to build the European Community of Carbon and Steel, Great Britain, through the voice of its diplomat Sir Roger Makins, finished by…

Germany's economic successes make it the natural leader for Europe. It has to henceforth assume its role on the political stage and its first task is to convince the ECB to promote a true European recovery. While Angela Merkel carefully prepares her large coalition government, disregarding its main European partner, France, the time is right to return to the remarkable path of this country's since the end of World War II. Cured of its imperialistic temptations, Germany split in two…

For years, the protection strategy has been to "milk the cow dry" in order to distribute dividends, even at the risk of relegating the strategic imperatives of one of the finest companies in France to the second tier. The recent history of France Télécom is emblematic of the current dynamic of the country. France Télécom, which we cannot yet call slow, is one of the finest companies in the world. As the very elitist executive general in telecommunications, this company…