After a batch of tax cuts presented on August 31st—to widespread plaudits—as "the biggest in half a century", Lionel Jospin, France's prime minister, must have thought he could relax a little. His liberal-minded finance minister, Laurent Fabius, was cock-a-hoop. The government had returned after the holidays with brio. Mr Jospin seemed well set for his run for the presidency in 2002. And then, suddenly, he was mired in the worst political and economic crisis since taking office three years ago.
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