When Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a joint session of the French parliament at the Palace of Versailles this week, he could not resist a certain self-congratulation. The global economic and financial crisis proved that the “French model” of tighter regulation of globalisation and of markets was coming into its own, he said. In the post-crisis world, France’s message would be “better understood”.

He has a point. France has so far survived the downturn rather better than most of its neighbours, because it is less dependent on exports than Germany, and its banks have been more cautious in lending than their UK competitors.