Instead, they’ll likely only raise taxes.

“It will require both an unprecedented curb on public expenditure and an increase in taxes,” Mr Migaud said.

Or, they could blame Bush. I mean Sarkozy.

But the report revealed no “black hole” in the state books and gave credit to Mr Sarkozy’s administration for a significant improvement in the deficit since 2010. It appeared at odds with the government’s plans for tax hits on big business and the wealthy.

Two strikes. Perhaps France can just grow growth and competitiveness through big social spending?

“In health, education, vocational training, for example, France spends much more than other countries where the outcome in these areas is considerably better than ours,” Mr Migaud said.

Read the article here.