Confidential sources says that President Sarkozy has intervened himself in the french position on Microsoft OOXML, asking members of the committee, especially members of the ministries DGME and DGE, to revert their position, and support an abstention. Our sources says he was approached by a lobbyist during his 3-days trip in England. The intervention has been made on Friday.
This can explain the sudden excuse from those ministries, who had been very critical of the OOXML process, all along the discussions in the technical committee:
La dernière contribution adressée par Eric Boustouller, Pdg France de Microsoft, (cf ci-dessous) ainsi qu'un soutien de la société Hewlett-Packard ont changé le vote de la direction générale de la modernisation de l'Etat (DGME) et de la direction générale des Entreprises (DGE).
Source: LesEchos: EXCLUSIF - Certification ISO : Microsoft pousse la France à s'abstenir "L'Afnor, qui s'apprêtait à émettre un avis défavorable, a changé d'avis suite aux "contributions et commentaires" apportés ce week-end."