I've just voted for Nicolas Sarkozy.
No, don't worry, I haven't been smoking illegal substances or overdoing the Ouzo.
I've voted for Sarko in the Guardian poll on who would be the best person to be in charge of the EU Trade negotiations: The French President or EU Trade Commissioner Peter 'Mandy' Mandelson.
I've written some pretty critical stuff on Sarkozy over the past year or so and there's no doubt that his foreign policy initiatives leave much to be desired. But on the issue of the EU's trade negotiations, he's dead right.
"One child dies every 30 seconds because they are hungry, and we should go and negotiate within the WTO framework a 20 percent cut in European agricultural production? Honestly, there is one person who is of that opinion -- that's Mr Mandelson.", Sarkozy said recently.
Sarkozy, unlike Mandelson, is not an ideological free trader. He believes, quite rightly, that Europe's ability to feed itself comes before a dogmatic attachment to neoliberal economics.
It's Britain, and not France, that is pushing the extreme neoliberal agenda in the EU. And it's Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, who is playing a key role in this process: a process which benefits global big business and no one else.
So, please, if you've got a spare moment, get over to the Guardian poll, and help defeat Mandy! It may well be the only time in your life you vote for Nicolas Sarkozy, so make the most of it!
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