During a visit last month to the Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France – the fifth-largest in the world – President Nicolas Sarkozy renewed his country’s commitment to the industry and described post-Fukushima fears over nuclear safety as “medieval” and “irrational”. He did not name anyone in particular, but it was hardly difficult to guess who he had in mind.

It was by no means the first time he has fired a salvo over nuclear power at Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel. Remember when he refused a request by Siemens to take a stake in Areva, the French nuclear group, simply because Germany had imposed a moratorium on nuclear power.

Ms Merkel has now decided to go even further. This week she abruptly decided to scrap all nuclear power by 2022. This is a reversal of her previous decision just nine months ago to delay the closure of the country’s 17 plants. It has been greeted with dismay not just in France but in many other industrialised nations.