UK government are the losers in EU shakeup
On the surface it appears that the UK government has been duped by its EU partners with French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggesting that Britain is the "big loser" in the recent EU shakeup. After apparently agreeing a deal with the French government, the UK appears to have walked in to a trap with Michael Barnier, the former French agriculture minister, catapulted in as commissioner for the internal market which effectively puts him in control of the City of London financial markets.
While President Sarkozy has in the past been very supportive of Gordon Brown it now looks as though this was nothing but a ploy to gain his trust and push forward with French and German hopes of dominating the EU. The UK government has already given up a number of vetos, much to the disgust of the Conservative party, and these will be very difficult (if not impossible) to renegotiate in the future.
All in all it does look as though the UK government has fallen into a well structured and well planned trap which could have significant implications for the UK financial sector and in particular the strength of the City of London markets. EU ministers have been looking to get their hands on the UK financial markets for some time now and slowly but surely their grip is tightening.
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