Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
Cooking les livres
We’ve had a couple of high profile visits to France this week (one king, one pope) but the thing that will probably have more of an impact on the lives of people living here is the budget, early details of which have now emerged.
It’s far from being, as has been suggested, an ‘austerity’ budget (certainly in the British sense of the term) but it does mark an end to the big-spending ‘quoi qui’l en coût‘ era of the past three years.
France has, famously, not balanced its books since the 1970s and has always appeared to deal with the little matter of EU fiscal rules on deficits with an insouciant Gallic shrug. There are signs, however that this era is coming to an end too, with credit ratings agencies applying pressure along with the European Commission.
It all adds up to a headache for finance minister Bruno Le Maire – who needs to cut spending and rein in France’s deficit while at the same time not raising taxes (ruled out by his boss Emmanuel Macron) and providing enough financial aid for those struggling with the rising cost of living to avoid another ‘yellow vest’ style rebellion.
A challenge even for the minister known for his clever book-keeping tricks and political longevity. Maybe he’ll have to scale back his second career as a romantic novelist?
Talking France
We take a look at budget issues in the latest episode of Talking France, as well as the measures being taken to cut hunting accidents – a perennial issue for people living in rural France – plus France’s best UNESCO world heritage sites, the upcoming Senate elections and the latest on the Notre-Dame restoration. Listen here or on the link below.
Dupont down
But really, there’s only one topic of conversation in France this weekend – Antoine Dupont’s face. The French team’s star player is now in doubt for the rest of the Rugby World Cup after suffering a facial fracture during their pool stage game against Namibia.
Wishing him a speedy recovery, I also enjoyed this clip of France’s football team visiting Les Bleus in their dressing room after the tournament’s opening match. The two prodigiously talented young men that are Dupont and Kylian Mbappé seem to me to represent two very different elements of the fantastic mix that is modern France.
Dupont the village boy from the traditional rural community in south-west France and Mbappé the representative of the urban, racially mixed and sometimes tough suburbs of France’s big cities. Both of them are a credit to their country.
Fun fact
Did you know that ‘Monsieur Dupont‘ is the French equivalent of John Doe or Joe Bloggs – the name given to the ‘everyman’ figure?
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
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