One by one the taboos of French public service appear to be crumbling. First France Telecom, then Gaz de France and EDF were partially privatised. As if that were not heresy enough, GdF will even be merged into a private company later this month. Now it is the turn of La Poste, France's third largest employer and a potent symbol of its deeply cherished public-service ideals.

Rothschild, the French bank, has been hired to lead La Poste to a partial privatisation, which could see it valued at about €10bn ($15.7bn) in a flotation within two years. Of course that depends on at least two things - first a change in legislation, which in turn will require support from a sometimes surprisingly hesitant ruling UMP party. Privatising GdF, for example, was far from a done deal, in spite of support from then party leader and presidential hopeful, Nicolas Sarkozy. Imagine how much more reluctant many deputies may be if they believe a privatisation could threaten services in their local constituencies that go well beyond delivering letters, and stretch even to baguettes and newspapers.