Zut alors! Ernest-Antoine Seillière, head of the European Union's business organisation, had la témérité to address Thursday night's meeting of EU leaders en anglais. Naturellement, Jacques Chirac stormed out in protest at what his French compatriot described - rightly - as the language of business.

Malheureusement, M. Chirac missed Mr Seillière's impassioned plea for Europe's leaders to resist the swelling tide of national protectionism. The French president's mentalitéMaginot is a symptom of that tide, but also a complete failure to recognise that France has been a notable beneficiary of globalisation - precisely because of the language skills of its people.