Some 52 quarters of positive economic growth have delivered an extraordinarily low unemployment rate (4.7 per cent), and inflation has been ably contained. No other major economy in Europe can equal these achievements, as Gordon Brown is only too quick to point out to them. But the British rhetoric at the Hampton Court summit last week was more subdued, perhaps because we have a lot less to be smug about. Long, long ago - all right, in March - the Chancellor was proudly boasting that the teenage City scribblers had got it wrong, and yet again we would chalk up an impressive growth rate of 3.5 per cent. I know the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, was trying to reassure us last week when he said "the wheels are not coming off the economy", but I'm afraid this natty phrase rather hit the spot. Margaret Thatcher, who was never afraid of a fight, shied away from it Other politicians have not even dared to try. But Peter Mandelson might be thinking that this French bluster might be overdone and the offensive by Jacques Chirac could have been launched too early. If Hong Kong falls flat because of Gallic intransigence, the anti-French sentiment will be easy to harness.With business, NGOs and the Americans on his side, and the chance of a fair wind of support from much of Europe, Mandy has an opportunity to outflank the French and create a legacy of his political career that cannot be obscured by his extra-curricular indiscretions.j.nisse independent.co.uk.
With Angela Merkel installed as German Chancellor, the accession countries largely pro-reform, and places like Sweden wanting to cut subsidies and taxes, the French feel isolated. Their reaction is to go on the offensive - and offensive it is to anyone who thinks about it.Reforming the CAP has been a pipe dream for three decades. The French again said: "Non", this time threatening to derail the whole Doha trade round.It is a sad fact of the EU structure that the French can exercise this veto. If the union had a constitution this would not be possible - but of course the French voted that down as well. The problem is that Mandy's new plans were already too watered down for the US and developing world negotiators. In trying to find a compromise, he fell between two stools.But can he save the day? The French are flexing their muscles because they fear that the Anglo-Saxon reformist agenda that Tony Blair has been promoting during the British EU presidency is gaining too much traction.
Predictably, the French, who engineered the Common Agricultural Policy and are its largest beneficiaries in absolute terms, gave his proposals a gruff "Non".So Mr Mandelson, who knew his first scheme was never going to get through, reworked the proposals, coming up with new cuts which he presented as a 46 per cent reduction, though critics argue it is only 39 per cent in real terms. That is when the French start throwing their toys out of the pram.Earlier this month, Mandy came up with a proposal to cut EU farm subsidies by a headline 50 per cent. The solution he was able to broker did work, and showed Mandy was getting back to some sort of his old form.But the latest row ahead of the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong will need every bit of Mandy magic to diffuse. I know I said last week that you should ignore all those "trade talks to collapse" stories until the ministerial level trade talks actually start in early December, but there is an exception to this rule. Hardly had he arrived in Brussels than he was caught up in a row about clothing imports from China.