The political test is likely to be felt on both the national and the European level. Financial protectionism is leading to national support for other industries as European governments realise they have to be seen to help not just the banks. Even the free-market Nordics are getting in on the act, with Sweden putting together a rescue package for its car industry. Like many of the rescues across Europe, it is focused on national priorities, with loans and guarantees providing the money is spent in Sweden.

Similarly in France, the government is making carmakers promise not to transfer jobs or production outside France in return for €6bn of support. Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, believes judicious intervention by the state during a severe recession will help foster support for globalisation and forestall a downward protectionist spiral. That explains actions such as launching its own sovereign wealth fund, taking a stake in a shipyard and providing guarantees to customers of Airbus, the aircraft maker.

Italy's approach of “managed globalisation” takes a similar tack and explains how it kept Alitalia, the lossmaking airline, in Italian hands but let Libya acquire 10 per cent of Eni, the state-controlled oil company. Germany, as the world's largest exporter, has tried to avoid being seen as protectionist even if some of its moves to prop up banks and proposals for supporting industry have flirted with the idea.