This is exactly what I was talking about.

From today’s FT:

Yesterday Italian politicians called for French takeover bids for Italian groups to be blocked, in retaliation for France’s efforts to protect its energy sector.

“There is a risk that over time this dynamic triggers a series of tit-for-tat reactions,” said Mr Casey [of the Centre for European Policy Studies]. “That is precisely how the great depression started: one country after the other erected barriers and finally free trade just ground to a halt.”

I don’t expect a new great depression anytime soon, but let’s hope everyone will soon calm down and come to their senses.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 at 11:58 am and is filed under Current Events, Econ & Business, Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.