When it comes to defending national champions, no one does it more loudly than the French. Take EADS. Rather than let the industrial partners resolve the problem, Paris has called for a "total rethink" of the group's structure.

The same applies toother industrial issues. It was the increasingly embattled prime minister Dominique de Villepin who promoted, with somewhat reckless haste, the proposed merger between Gaz de France and Suez to block an Italian bid for Suez.