Oh dear – it looks like The Economist have upset French officials with their latest magazine cover. The cover depicts a baguettes bound together with the French flag and a lit fuse coming out of the top, with the cover line “The time-bomb at the heart of Europe – a 16-page special report on France”.
The article claims that President Francois Hollande could jeopardise the euro’s future, with his economic reforms which some have considered not strong enough and many believe could turn the financial markets against France.
Many EU officials are sceptical about Hollande’s government’s ability to hit their target of cutting the country’s public deficit to 3 percent of output to 2013 as promised.
“Honestly, The Economist has never distinguished itself by its sense of even-handedness,” said Industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, speaking to Europe 1 radio. “It is the Charlie Hebdo of the City.”
Charlie Hebdo is a weekly French magazine, which was recently criticised for depicting naked illustrations of the Prophet Mohammed.
Whilst there have been claims that The Economist are using sensationalism to sell magazines, The Economist Europe’s editor, John Peet defended his decision to use that cover when speaking to newspaper 20 minutes.
"The point of this cover and the article is to encourage France. Other countries including Greece and Portugal have conducted many reforms. This is not yet the case in France."
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Posted by Andrew Burge.