In less than 24 hours this week, the French received three wake-up calls. On November 5th Louis Gallois, a businessman, unveiled a government-commissioned report on French competitiveness, in which he wrote of an "emergency situation". The same day the imf urged France to cut public spending and reform the labour market-or risk falling behind Italy and Spain. And on November 6th Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Socialist prime minister, announced big new tax breaks for companies, urging the French to back the measures or face the "certitude of decline".
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