France
Jean-Claude Kiefer
Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace
They’re after our yogurt, said Jean-Claude Kiefer in Strasbourg’s Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace. Already, the government warns us, they’ve bought the vineyard that makes Taittinger champagne and the prestigious Crillon hotel. And now they want the “gem of French agribusiness,” Danone. “They,” of course, are “the Americans,” and in the eyes of the French political establishment, they represent “voracious capitalism—everything that starts with Mac- or ends with -Cola.” The government has worked itself into hysterics over rumors of a PepsiCo bid for Danone. No foreign owner, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin declared, could possibly share “our attachment to French workers, French industry, French research.” President Jacques Chirac proclaimed himself to be “vigilant and mobilized” against a takeover bid. Other countries are laughing at this “ridiculous and typically French” overreaction, as well they should. French companies such as France Télécom and Electricité de France have benefitted enormously by acquiring foreign subsidiaries. It’s only fair that such trade “should go both ways.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Quiz of The Week: 15 – 21 NovemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
Can the UK do more on climate change?Today's Big Question Labour has shown leadership in the face of fraying international consensus, but must show the public their green mission is ‘a net benefit, not a net cost’
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will US Catholics rebel against the Pope?Podcast Plus what are the ethics of freezing your late partner?
