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| Yes | 75% | 12 votes | Total: 16 votes | |
| No | 25% | 4 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesThe rest of the world is about to find out how France treats others. France has always put up illegal barriers to protect its own. It is constantly breaking European Union laws to bolster its own industries and agriculture. But the moment anyone else breaks them, look out. Just take the BSE (mad cow) scare in Britain. The UK did everything by the book and its cattle exports were quite rightly banned. After that Britain imposed the strictest controls in the world, BSE was found in France - yet there was no French ban while the British one continued. When the EU lifted the British ban - in the knowledge that British beef was the safest in the world - France still illegally refused to accept British beef.
It's like that all the time with the French. Any laws which hinder exports or internal trade are ignored. But those laws which give an advantage to the French are championed. French businesses and workers feel so protected by their Government that the moment they sense they could possibly lose a concession they go on strike - and French strikes are nasty. They blockade ports, burn lorries, wreck businesses. Politicians are afraid of upsetting its workers. If the rest of the world did the same, there would be no trade between countries.
Danone's actions are just the latest in French protectionism and aggression. The rest of the world has to stand up to them. I personally will not buy France goods because of it - and I have a number of friends who are exactly the same. The trouble with the French is they do not like a level playing field. Competition is fine - so long as you don't stand up for yourself. It is time we taught the French a lesson. The message should be, 'If you want to cut up rough, then two can play that game'. A boycott of French goods by consumers all over the world would be a start. Please join me and my small group of friends!
Learn more about this author, Phil Hill.
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No
It took me approximately 20 minutes to figure out what this debate could be about and since I invested that time I might as well express my opinion. To clarify one issue right away, Danone did not buy Kraft foods and never intended do so. Rather the opposite happened and Kraft bought the biscuit and cereal division from the Danone group. In addition, it does not make any sense to describe Danone as a company being able to lead France in that matter. Danone is a medium size player that is rather endangered to fall prey to a takeover bid of a bigger competitor if it wasn't for the protection of the French government.
What the issue does in a way demonstrate is the French policy when it comes to international trade. Danone was indeed considered a takeover candidate for other bigger players, but the resistance in form of a quickly introduced new law protected the group from a hostile takeover by declaring their business sector strategically important. In France a concept called mercantilism was first introduced. The goal was, to describe it quickly, to export as much as possible and prevent imports through high duties in order to create trade surpluses. Obviously, the French policy approach has not changed very much. They merely switched the playing field and now try to create international players by promoting French companies' global acquisitions and preventing foreign takeovers of French firms. There are many other examples mostly in the energy, defence, and banking sector. And indeed, it works rather fine and global players such as BNP Paribas, Socit Gnrale, Sanofi-Aventis, Total, GDF Suez, and Vivendi, among others, are located in France
The question is now whether this helps France to gain a more competitive role in international trade. Well, such behavior harms global business for everybody in the end, as it is always the case in a typical prisoner's dilemma. Sooner or later other nations will not tolerate French protective actions anymore and take retaliation measures and implement the same protection policies. That was why the period of mercantilism in the 17th century had to end as well. After a while all countries adopted the policy and since not every country can have a trade surplus and trade will slow down quickly if every country has protective duties. The same holds for companies. If everybody tries to create (inter)national champions that way, nobody will host them as there will be none at all. In the long run everybody could be better off not protecting their industries and let free markets forces unfold. Consequently, everybody loses from French protectionism. That includes the French themselves.
Learn more about this author, Emanuel Josef.
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