MGMT have threatened to sue French President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party after they used one of their tracks without permission.

The party has admitted using 'Kids' at national congress and twice in online campaign videos, and offered to pay the American band one euro as compensation.

However, MGMT's French lawyer has described the gesture as “insulting” and “disrespectful of the rights of artists and authors”.

Isabelle Wekstein added: "We are dealing with acts of counterfeiting, an infringement of intellectual property."

According to the Associated Foreign Press news agency, UMP paid the standard 53 euro fee to the French music licensing body in order to use the track.

But Wekstein claims the sum was not enough to cover the song's appearance in the online campaign videos.

The disagreement coincides with the UMP's attempts to pass a law which will impose tougher penalties on file-sharers.

(by Jason Gregory)