Sarkozy: eurocommissaris Reding zal consequenties ondervinden van beledigen Frankrijk (en)
EUOBSERVER i / BRUSSELS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy i has had enough of EU i justice commissioner i Viviane Reding i 's sharp criticisms of his administration and has told her she will "pay the consequences."
"France told the commission that it has insulted her as a nation," Victor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary told reporters in Brussels at a meeting of Europe's centre-right leaders ahead of an EU summit, reporting on a lunchtime exchange between the French leader and the head of theEuropean Commission i, Jose Manuel Barroso i at the event.
"France is a very proud country. You cannot insult France without consequences and Ms Reding has insulted her," Mr Orban continued.
The outburst came after Ms Reding on Tuesday (26 October) denounced a pact between France and Germany to push for a change to the EU treaty and the withdrawal of voting rights from spendthrift EU member states, describing the deal as a "Franco-German diktat" and "irresponsible."
"To come up with chimeras about new treaties looks absolutely irresponsible to me," Ms Reding told German daily Die Welt in an interview, referring to a deal on EU financial regulation made by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel i in the French town of Deauville last week.
"European decisions are not taken in Deauville, also not by two members alone. They are taken in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg by 27 member states, based on a solid proposal which is in the interest of all 500 million citizens," Ms Reding said.
Neither the commission nor Mr Sarkozy briefed reporters on the discussion between Mr Barroso and the French leader, but the Hungarian prime minister, being unconnected to the dispute, felt at liberty to reveal what had been said.
Mr Barroso reportedly defended himself. According to Mr Orban: "He made a clear distinction between what is the responsibility of the commission president and what is the responsiblity of other members of the commission."
The commission is relaxed about the exhange, according to one spokesperson for the EU executive, who said: "We don't need to revive any memories of the last summit. In any case, Sarkozy's people have made some statements too, so as far as we're concerned [Reding and Sarkozy] are even now."
"The debate here is about the treaty change. As for consequences to be paid, that's for Sarkozy to define what he means there," the contact told EUobserver.
The great controversy of the last summit was Ms Reding's comparison of the French deportation of gypsies and events during the Second World War.