To the displeasure of the European Commission, Poland's government has gone to court to block the takeover of Germany's HVB by Italy's Unicredit, because it involves the merger of two Polish subsidiaries that the government is against.

ECONOMIST: Closing the borders to business | The

EU's powerful staff unions, which have gone on strike to block even the discussion of reforms.

ECONOMIST: Europe has to scratch its head

But Mr Sarkozy said he could not understand why the paper's journalists had gone on strike several times to try to block the recent takeover of their publication by his friend Bernard Arnault, France's richest man.

ECONOMIST: French business and the press