France’s Le Maire Gives Europe’s Version of Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’

(Bloomberg) -- For a self-proclaimed champion of Europe, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire isn’t above indulging in some regional stereotypes.

At an economics conference in Aix-en-Provence in southern France this weekend, the talk turned to European Union decision-making. When asked how the bloc’s many countries reach deals on key issues, he replied: with great difficulty.

His comments came after three days of brutal horsetrading and weeks of consultations over how to carve up the EU’s top jobs. In the end, the bloc’s leaders nominated Christine Lagarde to succeed Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank, and Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s defense minister, to head the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

Le Maire said cultural differences were behind the EU’s often laborious decision-making, calling his theory a local version of President Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.”

“The Brit always accepts deals, but after the deal is struck he never respects it,” Le Maire said. “The Italian loves deal-making. He loves deal-making so much that he continues dealing even when there is already a deal.”

Sitting next to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, head of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, Le Maire continued: “The German refuses the deal until it’s accepted, and then he sticks to the deal.”

Possibly drawing on recent corporate drama in France’s car industry, he concluded: The French “stick to deals, but often change partners.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Tara Patel in Paris at tpatel2@bloomberg.net;Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anussbaum5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry, James Regan

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