Why German bosses are heaping unexpected praise on France
It is not how things used to be
A DECADE AGO French business leaders tended to gaze across the Rhine with envious eyes. The German economic model, with its strong exports, conciliatory workforce, low unemployment and productive industry, was a source of widespread admiration. French publishers put out books with such titles as “Should we follow the German model?” Newspaper headlines asked “But how do the Germans do it?” French business chiefs and policymakers alike lamented their country’s inability to emulate their bigger European neighbour.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Rivals on the Rhine”
Europe November 25th 2023
- Geert Wilders’s election win leaves the Dutch in an awful quandary
- Why German bosses are heaping unexpected praise on France
- Russia is starting to make its superiority in electronic warfare count
- Turkey’s sluggish post-earthquake reconstruction
- Tyrant, liberator, warmonger, bureaucrat: the meaning of Napoleon
From the November 25th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Europe
Can the good ship Europe weather the Trumpnado?
Tossed by political storms, the continent must dodge a new threat
Spain’s proposed house tax on foreigners will not fix its shortage
Pedro Sánchez will need the opposition’s help to increase supply
A French-sponsored Ukrainian army brigade has been badly botched
The scandal reveals serious weaknesses in Ukraine’s military command
A TV dramatisation of Mussolini’s life inflames Italy
With Giorgia Meloni in power, the fascist past is more relevant than ever
France’s new prime minister is trying to court the left
François Bayrou gambles with Emmanuel Macron’s economic legacy
How the AfD got its swagger back
Germany’s hard-right party is gaining support even as it radicalises