Brussels, 14/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - In a Bastille Day interview on Thursday 14 July, the French President, François Hollande, described the actions of the former President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, in taking a job with the American merchant bank Goldman Sachs as “morally unacceptable” (EUROPE 11591, 11592).
On Wednesday, France “formally” called on Barroso to think better of his decision to accept a job with the bank. He was the leader of the Commission “during the crisis caused by sub prime mortgages and Goldman Sachs was one of the principal banks in this matter”, Hollande said in an interview broadcast on TF1 and France 2. The bank also had a hand in the Greek debt affair, “as it was Goldman Sachs that was advising the Greeks and which massaged the (public accounts) figures that Greece gave to the European Union some years ago”, Hollande said. Barroso, of Portugal, is to hold the position of non-executive President of Goldman Sachs International, the international branch of the American group based in London, and adviser to Goldman Sachs, against a backdrop of turbulence in the financial sector due to fears concerning Brexit. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)