Welcome to Europe’s new Angstmeister. France’s presidential elections in less than three months will be fought amid exceptional public gloom: the French are the most pessimistic in the European Commission’s recent Eurobarometer surveys asking Europeans about the direction in which their countries are heading.

In the search for scapegoats, presidential hopefuls Ségolène Royal, the socialists’ candidate, and Nicolas Sarkozy, from the ruling UMP, have found a common target: the European Central Bank.