Which way is France’s debt heading? On Monday its new government announced that it had sold 5 per cent of its 32.4 per cent stake in France Telecom for €2.65bn to pay off debt. While insignificant in the context of France’s gross public sector debt of €1,200bn – 63 per cent of gross domestic product – the sale represents a first step towards fulfilling President Nicolas Sarkozy’s commitment to bring debt back within the Maastricht criteria.

Don’t count on it though. The government’s decision on what to do with other stakes in companies such as Gaz de France and Aéroports de Paris is likely to be motivated more by political than by financial issues. The state’s 87 per cent holding in Electricité de France, for example, now seems unlikely to be reduced.