In a move that has sent shivers down the spines of Parisian intellectuals and delighted London’s square-mile traders, the French government has abandoned its traditional austerity fare in favour of lavish banquets. The decision, hailed by free-market advocates as a victory for economic reality over state-enforced frugality, has triggered fury among the far-left, who see it as a betrayal of republican values. But for those of us who have watched the French economy stagger under the weight of its own bureaucracy, this is a welcome sign of life.
The banquets, funded by a combination of private donations and a relaxation of tax rules on corporate hospitality, are as much a symbol of confidence as they are a display of excess. They represent a shift away from the sterile, predictable world of state-led austerity towards the messy, dynamic world of market-led growth. The far-left, however, sees it differently.
They rave about 'obscene inequality' and 'the decadence of the ruling class', ignoring the fact that such spending circulates money, creates jobs, and stimulates demand. The real obscenity is the decades of economic stagnation that have plagued France under the weight of its own dirigisme. This is not the first time British free-market values have ruffled feathers across the Channel.
From the deregulation of financial services in the 1980s to the more recent deregulation of Sunday trading, the British model has often been viewed with suspicion by our continental cousins. But while they fret about 'Anglo-Saxon capitalism', we get on with the business of creating wealth. The banquets are just the latest skirmish.
Underlying it is a fundamental clash between two worldviews: one that believes the state should control the distribution of resources, and another that believes individuals and businesses know best. The far-left's outrage is not about the banquets themselves. It is about the loss of control.
It is about the realisation that their vision of a planned economy is losing ground to the dynamism of free markets. And that, for them, is the most unpalatable dish of all. Meanwhile, the gilt market has barely stirred.
Investors, it seems, are more focused on the substance of economic reform than the froth of political theatre. This is no flash in the pan. The shift towards a more market-friendly stance in France, halting as it may be, is part of a broader trend across Europe.
The era of austerity and state control is fading. The age of enterprise is dawning. And if a few banquets have to be sacrificed on the altar of that transformation, so be it.
