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Sarkozy in storm for snubbing Obama & Co

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-18 08:05

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy came under attack on Friday despite denying he said US President Barack Obama was not "up to standard" and that Spain's prime minister was not very bright.

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"Dim, callow, irrelevant - Sarko's verdict on fellow leaders" said Britain's The Guardian, while The Times called him a "bitchy little princess" and Spain's ABC said he "confirmed his superiority complex has no limits".

The media buzz across the continent was sparked by a French press report that Sarkozy let rip at fellow world leaders during a lunch on Wednesday with parliament members to discuss the global financial crisis.

US President Barack Obama (L) and French President Nicolas Sarkozy meet during the NATO summit arrival ceremony at the the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg. [Agencies]

Sarkozy's office went into damage control mode late on Thursday, saying "the Elysee denies the remarks reported by Liberation", referring to the newspaper report that quoted one of the parliamentarian. .

The president, who has a reputation for blunt talking, reportedly suggested to parliamentarians that the new US president was lacking in hands-on experience of government and not yet up to speed.

"Obama has a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic," Sarkozy was quoted as saying by a parliamentarian in Liberation daily. "But he was elected two months ago and had never run a ministry."

"And he is not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency," he reportedly said.

On Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Sarkozy was quoted as saying: "Perhaps he's not very clever but I know people who were very clever and who did not make the second round of the presidential election."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also allegedly targeted, with the French president reportedly saying she merely followed his lead in her response to the global crisis.

"Once she realized the state of her banks and her car industry, she had no choice but to come round to my position," he was quoted as saying.

Several parliamentarians present at the lunch said they were taken out of context.

Centrist senator Jean Arthuis said that the comments were playful and that, "I did not sense in Sarkozy the slightest critical element towards Obama or Zapatero."