AS PRESIDENT of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy also holds the titles of commander in chief of the armed forces, grand master of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, president of the Council of State, canon of the Lateran and co-prince of Andorra.
Co-prince of Andorra? “Every- one knows it,” an official in the protocol office of the French foreign ministry insisted yesterday, after a government minister let slip that Mr Sarkozy has threatened to renounce the title if the tiny principality sandwiched between France and Spain in the eastern Pyrenees does not abandon its status as a “non-co-operative entity” (tax haven, in plain English). Mr Sarkozy shares the title with the Spanish Bishop of Urgell. France and Spain have jointly ruled Andorra since the 16th century.
“He said he would renounce his title of co-prince of Andorra if all countries that practise these tax haven mechanisms do not behave themselves,” the minister for family affairs, Nadine Morano, said on i-Télé.
Mr Sarkozy made the threat in a meeting with deputies from his UMP party on Wednesday.
No comment was immediately available from the Andorrans, but earlier this month the principality promised to lift banking secrecy where agreements on the exchange of tax information apply.
France and Germany have led the drive for a crackdown on tax havens, which will be formalised at next week’s G20 summit in London. To avoid being accused of double standards, France put pressure on its virtual protectorates of Monaco and Andorra, while Germany has leaned on German-speaking Liechtenstein.