Some more disappointing rhetoric from the mouth of Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French president. Once lauded as the great hope for a new France, he has revealed his protectionist instincts in Brussels.

In an article today in the Financial Times, Sarkozy mounts what the FT calls a “passionate defence of French farmers,” apparently calling for the EU to be even tougher in its defense of European agriculture in world trade talks and to “protect” its citizens from globalization. I wonder how Europe’s citizens feel about being protected from lower prices for food?

In a stunning display of perverse priorities, Sarkozy was quoted as saying, “I’m not going to sell agriculture to get a better opening for services.” But a quick glance in my Economist Pocket World in Figures 2006 suggests that Sarkozy has it all wrong: the contribution to services in the French economy in 2003 was 71.4 percent of GDP, and 74 percent of employment. Agriculture’s contribution? Just 2.8 percent (and 2 percent of employment).

Certainly many services are by definition non-tradeable (ever flown to Paris to catch a taxi?), but according to the World Trade Organization, France was the world’s fourth largest exporter of commercial services in 2004. You’d think Mr Sarkozy would want to do everything in his power to promote their growth, non?