Sarkozy triumphant

摘要

After three years in disgrace, could France at last be turning into a model economic pupil? That, on paper at least, was the message of the 2005 budget, unveiled this week by Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right finance minister. The government's budget deficit, he promised, will next year fall below the European Union stability pact's ceiling of 3% of GDP, for the first time since 2001. And the French economy is now growing faster than that of any other big euro-area country.