In another blow to Lilliputian trophy-wife collector French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the French government put the kibosh to his plan to introduce a tax on carbon emissions – a cornerstone of his environmental policy.
Unsurprisingly, the climb-down appears linked to the continued disintegration of the once-heralded European Union.
Reports the New York Times:
"Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister François Fillon said the country’s environmental policy needed to be ‘better coordinated with the European Union,’ particularly so that French companies do not lose ground against their German counterparts.
‘It’s a big climb-down linked to the election — it’s political,’ said Nicolas Bouzou, director of Asterès, a financial consultancy in Paris. "There was a lack of preparation and a lot of time and energy wasted by the government.’
He said that by arguing that the measure needs to be supported by France’s European partners, the government is effectively burying the tax.
‘There’s no chance that the 27 members of the EU will agree this,’ he said."
Ooops.
The recent scare by French socialists’ sweeping wins against Sarkozy's center-right government in this past weekend’s elections also helped kill the carbon tax.
"But in recent days, senior government and UMP figures started raising doubts, perhaps wary of popular support for the Socialists, who stressed the complexity of implementing the tax and the problems that it could bring for French companies.
Then on Sunday, the Socialists almost swept the board in the regional poll, leaving them and their allies in control of 21 of 22 mainland regions plus Corsica."