MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
France confirms recession and budget deficit above EU 3% ceiling
The weak state of the French economy and uncertain outlook for budget targets was in focus on Wednesday after official data confirmed that the country is in recession. Weak growth and public finances in France are of acute concern to the European Commission and to Germany which is the main powerhouse in the Euro zone.
The figures are also watched closely on nervous financial markets. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesC'est la vie
Jun 27th, 2013 - 04:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hang on a mo, moo moo,
Jun 27th, 2013 - 08:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You stated the other week that the recession in Europe was over and France was OK ,
Politicians never trust em, never believe in them.
Only the good ones, mmmmm? ..
I think that's why Germany wants to get near to France: thought s of 1940/1?
Jun 28th, 2013 - 08:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Only this time the takeover will be bloodless.
@3
Jun 29th, 2013 - 06:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The takeover was bloodless then.......those pansies gave up without a fight, ha the word surrender is French!
4A_Voice
Jun 29th, 2013 - 09:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes and I know all of the jokes BUT the reality was that although the Vichy government were a despicable bunch, the resistance were true, brave patriots.
You WISH you had some people like them to put your country back on track.
For Vichy government read TMBOA, Timerturd, PistolPete Moreno, the pansy VP and all the rest of the crooks that you lot adore.
@ 4 A_Voice
Jun 30th, 2013 - 10:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0How little you know.
Some French units fought valiantly but were hampered by an ineffective high command structure. Gamelin's HQ did not even have telephone or wireless contact with units in the field but relied on motor cycle dispatch riders for contact. In 1940, give me a break.
That episode was far from bloodless, on either side.
As for giving up without a fight, not quite in 1982, but not much resistance except from the RG air-force who, in my opinion, can be quite proud of their achievements. I am just grateful that their assets were as limited as they were.
@ 5 ChrisR
The French, as a whole, were not proud of the Vichy regime, Lavalle was executed and Petain likely would have been had he not died.
7 A_Voice:
Jun 30th, 2013 - 12:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Perhaps you were being ironic? I agree with 6Biguggy - the French have gotten a bad rap on this subject. Their command was indeed utterly unprepared for this kind of war - particularly against panzer-led Nazi uber menshen. Some of their planes broke-up in mid-air - they'd been sabotaged before they left the factory by communist workers. Not good for morale.
The exception was DeGaulle who accurately predicted precisely how the Panzers could circumnavigate around the much vaunted Maginot Line - through the Ardennes Forrest. Nobody wanted to listen to him though alas.
The French still hadn't recovered from the last war - this was the third invasion by Germany in the last 60 years! Ironically ( bitterly ) they lost more of their citizens from the political infighting AFTER liberation - blame Moscow for most of that.
@5
Jun 30th, 2013 - 03:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I am well aware of the history of France giving up with their armies intact and I'm aware of the the free French and the resistance…….Allo Allo…..It is I, Leclerc!”…….you are English you should be ashamed to say anything good about them.
My Country???
@6
I smell a Canadian…….part French anyway……figures
@7
Ironic……not at all…..irony would be saying the English should be grateful to the French for rolling over and playing dead…….the English had to destroy part of the French navy because they wouldn't do it themselves……..DeGaulle…..yeah great friend of the Brits after they harboured and helped him..... only to turn and bite the hand that fed him. You are most definitely an Aussie and not a Brit…….the Brits have been at war with the French for nearly a thousand years……..now suddenly they are pals…..I think not!
@8A_Voice:
Jun 30th, 2013 - 04:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes well, your sense of humour can be shall we say... subversive? Inscrutable?
Oui , of the haughty French De Gaulle was perhaps the haughtiest ( I can only picture him with his nose permanently elevated - perhaps sniffing for Englishmen ), but a brilliant military mind. He was stuck in London for years while the other allies refused to let him tell them what to do. His sense of honor, as well as well as his enormous ego ( which matched his nose ) ,was offended I think and he never forgave the British for it I think.
The French are both charming and amusing from a distance, they can be startlingly cruel when relationships are more intimate, but they attend the graves of our war dead with great care and affection and that counts for a lot in my book.
@9
Jun 30th, 2013 - 05:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Haha.......ze French........Charles DeGaulle airport, been through it lots of times and every single time my luggage has been opened and robbed......very charming. Also every time I make the effort and speak French they pretend they can't understand me......it may not be great but certainly understandable.......South of France.....Chalk and Cheese.....pleasant, amusing to talk to, even have a sense of humour and appreciate the effort of using the lingo!
@10A_Voice
Jun 30th, 2013 - 05:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They have a highly refined radar for detecting the vulnerabilities of foreigners and, in some parts, no shame in exploiting them. Not unique to them sadly.
The main problem with the French is envy and jealousy.
Jun 30th, 2013 - 05:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And over a thousands years later,
Nothing much has changed,
They are ok in small doses,
Remember its mainly the government..
.lol
@ 8 A_Voice
Jun 30th, 2013 - 06:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“I smell a Canadian…….part French anyway……figures”
Partially correct, Canadian … now, part French NO! Part Swiss, yes, grandmother, father born in Switzerland. Great uncle fought with French resistance.
@ 7 Heisenbergcontext
Agreed that DeGaule did predict where the panzers went he was, in my opinion, nowhere near the great strategist he thought he was. The allied high command, particularly Roosevelt, distrusted him after what he ordered done at St. Pierre et Miquelon. Plus his own idea that the invasion of France should only be commanded by a Frenchman, come on, the Yanks, Brits. And Canucks are going to hand over command of the Normandy invasion to a man from a country who largely capitulated without much of a fight, collaborated with the Nazis, and disobeyed direct instructions from Roosevelt, the leader of the nation supply the largest number of personnel and equipment to the invasion. Give me a break!
I do agree he never forgave the Brits., who I think bore the brunt of his anger but he also hated the Yanks. A very bitter man.
I have seen some of the military cemeteries in Europe, a sobering experience I can tell you.
The French obviously need a plan B - raise taxes on the rich and keep spending on the constituencies most likely to vote them into power.
Jun 30th, 2013 - 07:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oops that was plan A and it didn't work.
@13: Biguggy:
Jun 30th, 2013 - 07:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes he was a pain in the proverbials to the allies before and after D-Day - the very definition of a loose cannon, but a source of great hope for all the patriotic French who listened to his broadcasts via the B.B.C.
And despite his antagonism toward the anglo-saxons - who died in great numbers liberating his country - he was probably the only one who could've stopped France from becoming a communist country. The best organised, disciplined, well-funded, trained and the most ruthless of the resistance groups were the Soviet controlled communists. They spent much of the time prior to D-Day eliminating their more idealistic rivals.
For them, until Germany invaded Russia, the Nazi's were actually an ally thanks to that wretched treaty they both signed.
@15 Heisenbergcontext
Jun 30th, 2013 - 07:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You really do give that long nosed frog too much credit and the French as well. He was everything that is despicable about the French ......almost a caricature.
Of the 100,000 french troops rescued at Dunkirk only 3,000 joined his Free French. Of the 100,000 troops, half went back to fight......what did the other 47,000 do? .......Went home to give in.......yep that's the French for you.
16 A_Voice
Jun 30th, 2013 - 09:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And now you want us to believe you have actually been to France many times.
Ho, ho, ho (in a French accent).
@ 16 A_Voice
Jun 30th, 2013 - 10:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Went home to give in.......yep that's the French for you.”
A bit like the RG's in '82 eh? Except the RG's gave up before they went home.
@17
Jun 30th, 2013 - 10:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Why should I care what you believe?........and what's the big deal about France.....it's more a case of who hasn't been there.......do you not get about much?
@18
Yeah a bit like the Brits at Dunkirk........not 11,000........230,000 got their arses kicked right into the channel......when they couldn't run they swam.
They must hold the Guinness Book of Records for the largest army to leggit!
Don't forget the extra 100,000 French with them.
@ 19 A_Voice
Jun 30th, 2013 - 11:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yep, but the Brits went back and kicked ass. When are the RG's going to have another try at the Falklands?
@20
Jun 30th, 2013 - 11:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You mean the Russians kicked ass.........
Still doesn't change the FACT that instead of fighting .........they RAN.....Cowards
@16 _Voice:
Jul 01st, 2013 - 06:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0Can't blame the French that much - they're spirits were broken, they really had nothing left. And it took the British a while to develop the neccessary attitude and resources to be in a position to fight this kind of apocalyptic warfare but they got there in the end.
As to the Russians well there's nothing quite like having a squad of NKVD machine guns at your back ready to shred you if took a backward step to sufficiently motivate you. Ever wonder where Russian fatalism comes from?
Their 'reward' was to be given carte blanche to rape as many German females as they wished. Which they duly obliged.
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