At a recent lunch with French parliamentarians, president Sarkozy took a few shots at world leaders in what the French paper Libération describes as "a festival of me, myself and I". According to the paper Sarkozy's lunchtime 'display of self-congratulation' was over his handling of the the economic crisis and the G20 summit.

What he had to say during the luncheon was leaked to the press by guests.

Communist MP, Jean-Pierre Brard, said that Sarkozy referred to Obama as a person with "subtle intelligence" but that "he had never run a state or an authority before".

Another guest told Libération he also said of Obama "There are numerous things on which he hasn't got a position and ... he is not always up to scratch with decisions and efficiency."

After taking a shot at Obama, Sarko turned his attention to Angela Merkel, informing rapt listeners that he had the whip hand when it came getting her in line.

"Once she realised the state of her banks and her car industry, she had no choice but to come round to my position."

Despite working with Sarkozy in a seemingly amicable manner at various summits, the German chancellor is known to find ever-hyper 'Nicoleon' extremely irritating.

Once on a roll, Sarko seemed unable to stop. Over dessert there was some discussion of a policy move by the Spanish government, which Sarkozy interpreted as being modeled on a French "example". A socialist MP made some remark to the effect that there were " a lot of things to be said about Zapatero", to which the president responded "Perhaps he's not very intelligent."

This remark has been confirmed by guests present at the lunch, but is being denied by the Elysée which is hardly surprising. Word of the remark had already made its way to Madrid where Sarkozy will be making an official visit later this month.

It's hard to imagine anyone who could compete with Silvio Berlusconi for gaffe champion of the EU, but with this recent outing Sarkozy is closing in fast.