NEWS: Chirac Insults British Before G8 Summit

The British Press is Having a field day with this

Chirac denounced as 'racist creep' in British-French food fight

LONDON (AFP) - British newspapers have condemned French President Jacques Chirac as a "nasty, petty racist creep" and someone who "has lost his marbles" amid reports he scoffed at British food.

Chirac reportedly said British cuisine was the worst in the world after Finland's and joked "the only thing they have done for European agriculture is 'mad cow'" at a French-German-Russian summit Sunday in Russia.

The Daily Telegraph ran an editorial Tuesday under the headline: "Tut, tut, Mr Chirac.

"Jacques Chirac, the embattled president of France, seems to have gone a little off his rocker," it said.
Step One Open Mouth, Step 2 Insert Foot

[edit on 7/5/05 by FredT]

It corsses my mind that "Blaque Jaque" ought to shut up, sit down and eat his Welsh Rarebit, or a cheese sandwich, whichever comes first!

Here is my spin on this story it has more then just snipes at Britian it may well affect the outcome on who hosts the 2012 Olympics.

Diplomatic Blunder by Jacques Chirac Sours Relations with the UK

The French daily Liberation newspaper is reporting that French president, Jacques Chirac, cracked jokes to Russian and German leaders about mad cow disease and bad British food in a move which may cause further Anglo-French tensions. Chirac may also have hurt Frances hopes at hosting the 2012 Olympics when he stated ‘After Finland, it's the country with the worst food'. Both London and Paris have hopes of hosting the 2012 Olympics, but neither of them will be allowed to vote. Finland on the other hand has two votes which in effect may bash all of Frances hopes to host the games.

www.timesonline.co.uk...
An astonishing diplomatic blunder by Jacques Chirac soured relations with the UK after it emerged that he had mocked Britain’s cooking and reputation for trustworthiness.

His comments, made during a private conversation with President Putin of Russia and Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, were overheard and printed in the Libération newspaper yesterday.

“The only thing that they have ever done for European agriculture is ‘mad cow’ disease,” M Chirac said of the British. “You cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine. It is the country with the worst food after Finland,” he told amused colleagues during a meeting in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on Sunday.

M Chirac’s remarks are being seized upon as evidence of “Old Europe’s” true feelings towards Britain when relations have been severely strained by the budget row at last month’s European Union summit.

It sure looks like Chirac stuck his foot in his mouth big time with these comments. Comments such as those he made regarding Britain and Finland are totally uncalled for.

It would also appear there are more then just political ramifications; it is also prompting a boycott of French products according to the Somerfield Supermarket chain in the UK.
www.itv.com...


Needless to say the British Media is having a field day over these comments. The Sun says “Chirac has lost his marbles” others have similar comments all taking digs at him, which in my opinion he totally deserves.

You can view comments from British Citizens here
news.bbc.co.uk...

www.itv.com...
www.smh.com.au...




[edit on 7/5/2005 by shots]

Originally posted by FredT

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Why is this in ATSNN? Everyone knows the French are a-holes, this is not news...

I disagree. Whenever Bush picks his nose, its front page in most countries, so if Chirac wants to put his foot in his mouth and chew on it, its fair game as well.

I am with you Fred, some people do not know what true news is, my guess is they were working on the same story like I was only to find out someone had beaten them to the punch

wow, I'd expect about 100 security agents if these 3 sat down for a meal, hoe did they not know there was a french photographer around ?

anyway, it was just a joke. I can't imagine what they said about W.

Blair should deliver chirac 100 heads of cattle and some pot pies and bass ale as a gesture....it would make him look like he took the high road.....

A jokes a joke, but this doesn't bode well for the G8 summit if this is the level of pettiness on the issue of agricultural subsides before it even begins.

Chirac's obviously still annoyed at the calls for scrapping or re-working EU agricultural subsides (France receives 11.5 billions euros in agricultural subsides, equivalent to the combined total received by the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden) but the problem is agricultural subsides are also a large part of the argument for achieving fair trade with Africa, and getting away from just giving aid. They need to be severely modified throughout the western world to give Africa an equal stance in trading its goods.

Scrapping them totally in the EU and the US would devastate the agricultural economy of both, but some severe changes have to come to about or "free trade" will remain inherently hypocritical, and Africa will continue to pay four times as much for imports they could make and export themselves.

Doesn't look like it's going to happen though, with this and with Bush saying he'd scrap it in the US if the EU scraps theirs (which he's probably said because he knows it's highly unlikely the EU's going to come to a consensus any time soon).

Disappointing.

I'm amazed at how many here think what Chirac said was funny. I guess if somebody wanted to be a stand up comic, Europe is the place to do it. It would seemingly be very hard to bomb there. Had I been in that cafe, I would have thrown a tomato at him.

First of all, Chirac is a scumbag! Always has been, always will be!!

Second, British cuisine, used to be known as quite bad, but over the last 10-15 years, the food has now improved so much, that it is actually serving some of the best food in the world. I think that scumbag, needs to do some research regarding this.

I think what Chirac said was very funny....he has rights to ya know. Even world leaders talk crap about each others behind backs.

But..as a man in his position he should be sure eyes and ears are away when he does make such statements......ya never know who's around.

Originally posted by 27jd
I'm amazed at how many here think what Chirac said was funny.

WHy? Its pretty funny if you ask me. More to the point it was a real moment and you get to see the core of the person, not the managed public persona you get from all these politicians. Thats why guys like a Barry Goldwater or to a limited extent a McCain are so refreshing. That being said, I don't like the guy and I would be seriously pissed if that had been directed at my country for sure.

Silvio Berlusconi is funny and Chirac was caught off guard it was just a joke and nothing serious I bet, why would a journalist make a mountain out of a mole hill, for money and attention I guess.
He's only human, Geore Bush is the funniest sticking his finger up at the camera. Also saying 'we can't find the weapons of mass destruction its not over here' to an audiance. Not to be taken seriously and should be kept in distance to where it started instead of the world knowing, no ones perfect.

What do you expects from the leader of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys who drink a lot of whines" to say something bad about British cuisine?

I can see the headline tomorrow from Scotland: "Bush Referees Blair, Chirac Over Food Fight".

The man's an idiot. His endless posturing is a pathetic attempt to deflect attention from the fact he lost the EU referendum. Given the choice between him and EU chaos the French chose chaos. His anti-Brit crusade is his Malvinas 'liberation'.

Food in the UK is varied and very good. I can eat 20 different cuisines within 15 mins walk of my house. Better, overall, than food in most parts of the World I've been to.

In France they only have french food and some of it is very good

The best Restaurant in the World? 12 of the top 50? Guess where!

www.worldpress.org...

Not a UK magazine BTW

Guys, it was one person's swipe at an entire country. He shouldnt of said it, it wasnt that funny anyway, and we shouldnt start abusing the French for what Chirac said.

Was Napoleon a "cheese eating surrender monkey"? That guy conquered most of Europe. This was only 200 years ago.

Dont play their game of pandering to the uninformed and prolonging useless stereotypes. When a Brit asks you to stop insulting the French, you know its really past its sell by date.

Well said subz. I think that this type of thinking should be across the board. It seems that a whole country gets slammed because of what it's leader does. Not condusive to progressive thought.

Nice to see. Again, well said.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Chirac is emerging as a complete nincompoop and I have heard that the French people, the one's who don't live in Paris, anyway, are beginning to tire of his lack of diplomacy.

Actually, a good number of the French - in Paris or elsewhere - are tired of him. He was at 28 percent in the polls in June.

Originally posted by PaulIts a pity that they have presedential elections only every 7 years.

Actually, when Chirac was re-elected in 2002, it was for a five-year term, which is to be the rule from now on.

On the joke itself... it's not very funny and it doesn't make the discussion go forward very much. However... I don't think that Chirac represents the opinions of the majority of the French, not more than Berlusconi represents the majority of Italians.

I don't think the French deserve, as a people, to be bashed over this.

The real question they should be asking him is, if given a choice, would you rather put your foot in your mouth or a spoonful of British food.

I am actually offended that he isn't original to come up with some material a bit less tired than bagging on British cuisine. Maybe he should hire a joke writer for those outings with heads of other countries or in case he runs into someone like John Kerry in a men's room somewhere...

What a stupid comment. But come to think of it Chirac might be right!

Originally posted by FredT
WHy? Its pretty funny if you ask me.

I don't know, I guess it's just me. I was not even remotely compelled to laugh upon reading his comments, not because they were offensive or anything, it just wasn't funny to me. I suppose comedy is subjective. As much as I dislike Bush, he certainly beats Chirac in the presidential comedy category, both intentionally and unintentionally.

How many of you British food experts have actually been here?

Although granted we don't do gut-busting postions with extra extra lard the food is, in my experience, better than in the US.