How can the nation of haute couture and high speed rail have an affordability issue? On paper, France boasts the planet’s seventh largest economy. Its top diplomat started the week hosting a Group of Seven Industrialized Nations foreign ministers meeting inside the regal setting of its landmark Left Bank ministry.
But a few short blocks away, the PM was engaging in a more arduous exercise… negotiating pay rises with unions in a bid to quell social revolt while still keeping a record budget deficit from ballooning any further. Six months from presidential elections where anti-establishment far-right and far-left candidates promise to take a torch to existing norms.
