Contradictory France
If Lionel Jospin’s Socialist-led government surrenders to the demands of protesters blocking roads and depriving the country of fuel, it will undercut the good news about tax reform
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.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Contradictory France”
From the September 9th 2000 edition
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