Think Tank Aims to Raise France's Place as a Leader in Europe

PARIS, February 3, 2011 - Europe United founded the first French Business Dialogue Group
(FBDG) think tank and announced today that invites more business leaders to
join discussions concerning French business in Europe.

Decisions taken by President Nicolas Sarkozy remain the main
topic of the discussions as the results turn out to be failures and
ineffective plans that caused both financial and social tensions, think tank
members say.

The group is focused on five directions covering Economy,
Social affairs, Strategic partners, Country Image and Security in France.

"Germany's GDP growth to 3.7%, against only 1.6% in France
also marked losing our place as a leader in Europe due to lack of
labour-market reforms that had an impact on its competitiveness. President
Sarkozy is also considered responsible for the ineffective reform the pension
system, altering the social contract and also raising the minimum retirement
age from 60 to 62 without studying the impact on the real economy," said Mr.
Michel Constantin, the leader of the dialogue group.

According to think tank members, President Sarkozy is
considered unresponsive when dealing with France's traditional relations as
he put strains on the Franco-German and Franco-Romanian relations, both
stable economic partners of France - both Germany's Angela Merkel and
Romania's President Traian Basescu faced Sarkozy's lack of diplomacy when
dealing with regional economic and social affairs.

The widely criticized repression on illegal Roma (gypsy) camps
is considered an election stunt as Sarkozy seeks a second term in 2012,
French businessmen say.

"France is now considered ambiguous by many partners as
Sarkozy adopted his security strategy. Decision to build Mistral battle-ships
in Russia was only one of the cases that affected French workers," said
Constantin while describing security issues. "While promoting openness
towards Russia and Iran, with its nuclear ambitions, Sarkozy disabled France
to become a credible partner for its allies. The threat of terrorism remains
high in France and keeping troops in Afghanistan is considered another
decision for spending money with no strategy on the long term," Constantin
said.

FBDG is concerned with the fact that France perception
worldwide changed during President Sarkozy's mandate affecting indirectly
French brands mainly because corruption, mass protests, strikes and extremist
attitude towards gypsy and Muslims. The act of forceful regulation on illegal
Roma (gypsy) camps put France on the first page of mainstream media as
human-rights organizations forwarded thousands of protests.

Think tank members conclude that President Sarkozy lost his
connection with the real economy, its traditional partners and the French
business interests.

About FBDG Think Tank at Europe United

Europe United is a non-profit organization aiming to develop
non-governmental projects that make an impact on the common market. The
association offers communication platforms for business groups and studies
regarding the economic issues in Europe.

Internet: www.europaunita.org .

Michel CONSTANTIN, E-mail: pr at europaunita.org, tel. +49-15251494718, internet: www.europaunita.org .