Sarkozy ‘muscles in’ on Commonwealth
FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy prompted an angry response after he turned up at the Commonwealth Summit.
Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, director of the London-based Royal Commonwealth Society, said the visit had sparked fears Mr Sarkozy was trying to muscle in on the 53-member club.
French officials said their leader was in Trinidad and Tobago to discuss climate change before next month’s summit in Copenhagen.
But some countries questioned his longer term motives, as sources said he wanted to align the 56-member Francophone group of French-speaking nations with the Commonwealth. He hopes that would give French businesses better access to markets in India and elsewhere.
Dr Sriskandarajah said: “If Sarkozy’s aim is to bring the Francophonie to the Commonwealth, lots of countries will resent that.
“If there is an attempt to try to make this a British club interacting with a French club, that will be received very badly.
“We had a fantastic chance for the Commonwealth to have its own voice on a range of issues, including climate change, and all of a sudden that’s diluted by having Sarkozy and co coming on board.”
