The former president of oil giant Elf Aquitaine is on trial in France. Here’s a brief story on what he had to say about donations to French political parties, including, allegedly the party once led by, ahem, the current president of France. Elf itself was taken over by TotalFina in 1999 making it a Franco-Belgian concern. In recent years TotalFinaElf has, famously, been very busy developing relationships with the (current) Iraqi regime. The likely plan? To secure pole position in the event that sanctions were lifted/collapsed, an arrangement that probably would not survive the departure of Saddam. Chirac, of course, is trying to help Saddam remain in power. Which is the other EU country (other than Germany) that has been most active in backing Chirac’s stance on Iraq? Belgium.

Link via Stephen Pollard.