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“FREE trade, yes. Disloyal competition, no. Europe that opens all its public-procurement markets when others do not open them at all—it’s no.” Thus Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, in a markedly protectionist campaign speech earlier this month. Less than a fortnight later, the European Commission has snapped its heels. It has issued a proposal to let the EU close its public-procurement markets to firms from countries that exclude European competitors from their public contracts. Like Mr Sarkozy, Eurocrats insist that this is not protectionism. It is, rather, creating a lever to prise open closed markets. The proposal has been a long time coming; if the commission had to postpone every initiative because of an election, it could never do anything. Yet many still see this as a campaign gift to Mr Sarkozy.
France’s Socialists will not denounce it. But liberals, especially Britain and other north Europeans, are aghast. Everybody knows that Mr Sarkozy dislikes free trade. What dismays them is that the commission should abandon its role as a force for open markets. Germany, usually careful to stay close to France, said in a scathing private paper that “the proposal is unacceptable and should be rejected.” It notes that Europe can hardly argue against “buy American” restrictions while adopting “buy European” ones.
One reason the proposal got past the commission was an unholy alliance between Michel Barnier, the French single-market commissioner, and Karel De Gucht, the Belgian trade commissioner. Whether it passes the Council of Ministers, representing national governments, is another matter. Mr De Gucht says Europe must deal with the world with less “naïveté”. Its competitors resort to means fair and foul to promote their interests. It is time for Europe to play rough.
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