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The announcement of the downward revision of the French growth forecast for 2026 by the Ministry of Finance, reduced to 0.4% from 0.7% initially estimated, is not a surprise. The Bank of France had already reduced its to 0.6% in August. But the very negative comments that accompanied it are excessive and the European comparisons unwelcome. In an increasingly difficult international context, including a sharp rise in oil and natural gas prices and a summer marked by a real climate catastrophe, France will escape recession. Germany, after being plunged into it for two years, is barely out ...
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Political news in France is focused on the preparation of the 2027 budget, in the run-up to the next presidential election and in a context where the general rise in interest rates is affecting public finances already degraded by heavy debt. The stabilization of the deficit at around 5% of GDP in 2026 is not a given due to an unstable international environment that weighs on growth and new spending required by the consequences of the weather events that occurred this summer.
If we put aside the project of cancelling part of the debt that would make France look like ...
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Natural disasters, fires, heat waves and drought are hitting France hard this year. It is not yet possible to assess the short-term financial consequences and the investments to be made in the future, but this should not distract attention from the current economic challenges and the responses that need to be provided to them, particularly in the run-up to the next presidential election.
INSEE has published its estimate of growth in the 2nd quarter (0%), i.e. a timid rebound compared to the slight decline observed in the 1st quarter (-0.2%), which prevents France from entering a recession. But ...
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The National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing has just published the figures for the 2nd quarter of 2026 of the Chinese economy. Year-on-year growth was 4.3% after 5% in the 1st quarter, i.e., over the 1st half of the year, a pace of 4.7% in the range between 4.5 and 5% which is the authorities' target for 2026. The only figure that caught the attention of commentators was 4.3%, pointing out that it is one of the lowest levels in recent decades. It was interpreted as a sign of the difficulties that the country would ...
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Le nouvel Etat-stratège
Le dernier livre d'Alain Boublil, le nouvel Etat-statège (Editions de l'Archipel) est paru le 5 février 2014.
Le livre apporte les réponses de son auteur à la question qui est, en France, au centre de tous les débats politiques: "Que peut-on attendre de l'Etat aujourd'hui ? " Et il formule plusieurs suggestions sur l'exercice du pouvoir tirées de son expérience passée auprès de François Mitterrand. Observateur de l'économie mondiale comme conseil des nombreuses grandes entreprises qui ont fait appel à lui, il trace un portrait de la France d'aujourd'hui bien moins pessimiste que ce que l'on entend parfois, à condition que chacun fasse preuve de lucidité sur ses propres comportements.
Les exigences ont certes été exacerbées par la crise. Mais y faire face est de plus en plus difficile car l'écart s'est creusé entre les attentes de chacun et la réduction des marges de manoeuvres publiques du fait des règles internationales, de l'endettement et des contraintes environnementales.
En dix chapitres, Alain Boublil dresse un bilan sans complaisances, prend la mesure des possibilités et des limites de l'Etat et il ouvre des voies nouvelles pour l'action publique. Il évoque le sauvetage de l'euro, le fardeau de la dette et le ras-le-bol fiscal, l'Etat-patron de Colbert à Jean-Marie Messier, le retour du complexe vis-à-vis de l'Allemagne et les nouveaux outils de l'Etat-stratège dans la mondialisation face aux défis industriels, aux enjeux de la transition énergétique, à la "dictature du CO2" et à la révolution du gaz de schiste. Et il met en garde contre les dérives de l'Etat-spectacle, qui gènent l'efficacité de l'action publique et les facilités de l'Etat-guichet qui débouchent sur le clientélisme.
La Publication la plus lue
13/09/2026
French version
The announcement of the downward revision of the French growth forecast for 2026 by the Ministry of Finance, reduced to 0.4% from 0.7% initially estimated, is not a surprise. The Bank of France had already reduced its to 0.6% in August. But the very negative comments that accompanied it are excessive and the European comparisons unwelcome. In ...
Continue reading