Sarkozy’s little smile is out of place. Not because of the subject towards whom the smile was directed, in relation to whom there would be to dislocate our jaws from laughing for days, but for the bitter French credits. Italy could quite soon bring ridicule on the grandeur of France. “Spezzeremo le reni” {We will smash the kidneys} of our cousins across the Alps, we’ll start with the Col di Tenda and we’ll end up in The Bay of Biscay without encountering obstacles. The force of our debt will smash the French banks. Anything but Mirage and “force de frappe”.
The French banks own 366 billion euro of our debt (*). And we are not alone. As well as our debt, the credit institutions have 53.9 billion in Greek debt, 18.3 billion in Portuguese debt, 17.3 billion in Irish debt and 118 billion in Spanish debt. The debtors are all countries at risk of default whose bonds have all been devalued on the markets by 15 to 50%., and in this way so has the value held by the banks. The overall total of debt of the Piigs in French banks is 573.5 billion (**). The lighted match of the European public debt is in Sarkozy’s hands and he doesn’t seem worried. He and the one close by remind me of the film "Lui è peggio di me!" {He is worse than me}. There’s no banking system that is exposed as much as the French one. It’s at risk due to a default in Greece, or in Italy and due to the reduction in value on the markets of Portuguese, Irish and Spanish bonds. If Greece goes bust, it’ll be an earthquake for the French banks, if Italy explodes, France’s destiny will follow. This is why Greece cannot and must not fail and neither must Italy: to avoid the collapse of the banking system, and especially the French one.
Why is it that France more than every other country has bought risky shares? The only response is the wish to obtain, by means of the public debt, a part of the popular sovereignty of other countries and to oblige it to make choices in the realm of economics, like Alitalia and Parmalat, in the energy sphere, the exportation of nuclear power stations, and in the military sphere, the involvement of Italian forces in the war in Libya. The problem is that the French investments in debt shares relates to all 5 of the PIIGS. Five losing horses for Sarkozy, the jockey. To be knocked off your horse with a smile on your lips takes a split second.

(*) The values given are calculated net of the French shares owned by the PIIGS.

(**) source: The New York Times