'UK has no industry' Sarkozy says in pre-Brussels interview

THE GREETING between Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron at today's European summit in Brussels looked likely to be especially glacial after the French president used a live TV interview last night - which was grandly screened across nine national channels - to announce that he will be bringing in a financial transactions tax (FTT) in France this August.

Not only is Cameron vehemently opposed to such a tax, but Sarkozy also said in the course of the interview that "the United Kingdom has no industry any more". According to the Daily Mail, the "sneering" president "spat the words out".

With opinion polls continuing to show the gap widening between Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande - the latest daily tracker poll for Paris Match has Hollande winning the first round by six points with 28 per cent, and crushing his UMP rival 57-43 in the second, decisive round - the president had taken to the airwaves to defend his five years in power.

Despite rumours last week that he might dramatically quit the presidential race during the interview, Sarkozy instead launched an impassioned defence of his record, and reminded the French people that under his watch they had been rocked by an "historic crisis" and that measures introduced by his government had helped avert the worst possible scenario of EU collapse.

"Last year I told the French that we were in a historic crisis... We are trying to stop a crisis that could bring down the euro to start with, Europe afterwards and the world," Sarkozy claimed. "The economic crisis is still extremely deep… but Europe is no longer on the brink."

By presenting an apocalyptic vision of where the nation might have ended up, Sarkozy was seeking to contrast his experience at the helm of the country with the non-existent record of Hollande, who has never held a substantive position in government at the highest level.

In addition to the introduction of the FTT or Tobin Tax, which will be levied at 0.1 per cent and will come in regardless of whether other countries enact similar legislation, Sarkozy also announced a rise in VAT by 1.6 per cent to help the French state to cover its high social costs. He claimed that when such a tax hike was imposed in Germany it helped to boost competitiveness and not prices.

It was when his interviewer pointed out that George Osborne's decision to raise VAT at the beginning of 2011 had actually caused price inflation, that the French president sourly retorted that Britain "has no industry any more".

Meanwhile, on the home front, Sarkozy does not just have Hollande's popularity to contend with – the Socialist leader's glamorous girlfriend is also becoming increasingly influential.

The Sunday Times reports that the French people, tiring of the Carla-Bruni-and-Sarko pantomime, are now more intrigued by Valérie Trierweiler, a political journalist and TV interviewer who supplanted former presidential candidate Segolene Royal in Hollande's affections.

As the bland Hollande attempts to win the presidency through his policies, rather than by being 'anyone but Sarko', the media-savvy Trierweiler is playing a key role in his bid to become the first Socialist in the Elysees since Francois Mitterand stood down in 1995. She is reportedly so involved in her boyfriend's election campaign that his aides are advised to consult her before making decisions. ·