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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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An inconvenient truth
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Race
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| Contributor | La Fayette |
| Last Edited | La Fayette Mar 30, 2012 08:37am |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Media | Newspaper - Economist (The) |
| News Date | Saturday, March 31, 2012 02:35:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | From the print edition
A WEEK after France was shaken by terrorist shootings in and around Toulouse, candidates for the country’s presidential election have gone back to the stump. The tone is a little less shrill, the contenders respectful of the sombre mood. Yet the return to electioneering has a surreal quality nonetheless, unlinked to the new concerns about security. For the country faces an imminent economic shock, which the presidential candidates are utterly failing to acknowledge.
The awkward truth is that France, the second-biggest economy in the euro zone after Germany, faces a public-finance squeeze. French public spending now accounts for 56% of GDP (see chart 1), compared with an OECD average of 43.3%: higher even than in Sweden. For years France has offered its people a Swedish-style social model of services, benefits and protection, but has failed to create enough wealth to pay for it. |
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