“France in denial”.
Ten years ago,
The Economist
threw a stone into the Gallic pond.
On its front page, under this shocking title, the British liberal weekly hijacked
Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe
by Manet, featuring the two favorites for the 2012 presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, lounging.
The indolence of the time was that of a campaign that dodged the catastrophic situation of the French economy: under-competitive, overtaxed, over-indebted, undermined by mass unemployment.
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Ten years later, France is doing both better and worse.
It is in the European front runner in terms of growth - it is very new, but also very characteristic of the health crisis like no other - it has gained in attractiveness, and unemployment is at its lowest level for fifteen years.
But the trade deficit continues to widen - nearly 80 billion euros - and the public debt has further swelled, to 115% of GDP.
In 2012, the campaign was, facing the President…
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