WTO chief Lamy slams French protectionist 'diversion'
Almost all the candidates in the French presidential election campaign, from the Far Right to the Radical Left, are championing protectionism, a rare issue on which there is such broad agreement. But the rhetoric doesn’t impress World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy, who dismisses the protectionist vogue as one based on false premises and serving only to divert attention from the primary issue of French competitiveness. In this wide-ranging interview with Philippe Riès, Lamy argues that protectionism is fuelled by a French malaise towards the wider world, an issue that he says requires an “anthropolitical” approach.
AlmostAlmost all the candidates in the French presidential election campaign, from the Far Right to the Radical Left, are championing protectionism, a rare issue on which there is such broad agreement. But it doesn’t impress World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy, who dismisses the protectionist vogue as one based on false premises and which only serves to divert attention from the primary issue of French competitiveness.
