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Papandreou a "madman" Sarkozy reportedly told Obama

French president Nicolas Sarkozy also made unflattering comments about former Greek Prime Minister Georges Papandreou, when he was overheard talking to Barack Obama privately before their joint G20 press conference.

Reuters/Philippe Wojazer
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According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, Sarkozy told Obama “This madman Papandreou comes up with his referendum. It’s because he’s a depressive, there’s no point in beating him up about it. He’s already on the floor. Knockout.”

Le Parisien reports that the two men apparently agreed that Papandreou had made a terrible mistake in proposing a referendum so that the Greek people could pronounce on the EU-IMF rescue package.

The exchange between the two leaders, during which Sarkozy also branded Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a liar, was accidently overheard by journalists issued with translation devices in preparation for the press conference which followed.

Sarkozy’s advisors declined to comment on the reports in The Parisien, saying simply “Lots of nonsense circulates on internet. We are not going to comment on everything.”

 

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