In the first half of his presidential term, Nicolas Sarkozy has proved more adept as a firefighter than as the thoroughgoing structural reformer France needs and his electors were promised. Though his and France’s achievements are not negligible, all now depends on what he does in his second half.

The proliferation of measures Mr Sarkozy has adopted to save jobs and combat recession – from an effective stimulus plan to bank and auto bail-outs – have often worked well. The much-derided French “model” has proved surprisingly resilient, partly because of a well diversified economy and partly because, despite their frequent tantrums on the subject, the French are actually rather good at economic globalisation.