You Gotta Love the French

I read this in the Wall Street Journal this morning, but I can't link to it. Apparently France can't defend Paris from the Germans, but they will fight to the death for their yogurt!

The French government is once again in trouble with the European Commission. Charlie McCreevy, the EC internal market chief, said he will block the French state's attempts to prevent foreign companies from taking over its "national champions."

The trouble has stemmed from the fact that France has actively worked to prevent foreign entities from acquiring French companies. For example, at the same time that France Telecom was purchasing Spain's third-largest mobile operator, Amena Movil, for E10.6 billion ($12.9 billion), French government ministers were publicly saying it would not permit any French "national champion" to be purchased by foreign companies. This was in response to moves by US-based PepsiCo Inc to purchase the French food company Groupe Danone SA.