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| Photo : ALAMY |
An American tyre tycoon has fired off
a second virulent missive to France's industry minister, saying his country has
“beautiful women and fantastic wine” but “no idea how to run a business”.
Maurice Taylor - chief executive of
Titan International - had already incensed the French once this week by saying
the country's “so-called” workers put in “three hours a day” with the rest
spent eating and talking.
Industry minister Arnaud Montebourg
hit back in a written response in which he told Mr Taylor his comments were
“extremist and insulting” and displayed “a perfect ignorance of what our
country is about”.
"Be assured that you can count on
me to inspect your tyre imports with a redoubled zeal."
Mr Taylor has today responded:
"You letter shows the extent to which your political class is out of touch
with [real] world problems”.
"You call me an extremist, but
most businessmen would agree that I must be nuts to have the idea to spend
millions of US dollars to buy a tyre factory in France paying some of the
highest wages in the world."
"Your letter did not mention why
the French government has not stepped in to rescue this Goodyear tyre factory.
"The extremists are in your
government, who have no idea how to build a business.
"Your government let the wackos
of the communist union destroy the highest paying jobs," Mr Taylor told Mr
Montebourg.
"At no time did Titan ask for
lower wages; we asked only if you want seven hours pay, you work at least
six."
But he added: "France does have
beautiful women and great wine. PS: My grandmother named my father after French
entertainer Maurice Chevalier, and I inherited the name."
In a final flourish, he said: “I have
visited Normandy with my wife. I know what we did for France.”
Earlier, US State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland played down the cross-Atlantic spat as a
"private matter" and not a concern between the United States and its
"oldest ally" France.
"We have deep and broad
relations, including many successful American businesses operating in France,
many successful French businesses operating in the United States," she
added.
Mr Taylor's broadsides have sparked
outrage among most of France's media.
But Right-wingers warned there was
some truth in his tirades.
Valérie Pécresse, the former
conservative budget minister, said: “It faithfully reflects the image that a
good deal of investors have of France…because we have an overdose of tax,
because they don’t see the necessary competiveness reforms.”
The row came as the European
Commission predicted that French growth this year will expand just 0.1pc
compared with the government’s 0.8pc forecast. France will also fail to meet
its 3 per cent budget-deficit target, the Commission added, forecasting the
deficit to be 3.7pc of GDP.
Henry Samuel is the Daily Telegraph's
France correspondent covering everything from French politics and justice to
art de vivre. He has lived and worked in the country since 1996.
(source
: telegraph.co.uk)
