France steps into deep trouble

It has no government and no budget, and is politically gridlocked

ON DECEMBER 7th, 50 heads of state and government will take their places to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame, Paris’s 12th-century Gothic cathedral, gutted by fire five years ago but now restored with astonishing speed and loving skill. Donald Trump will be there (Joe Biden, only the second Catholic president of America, sadly will not) to witness France at its best. It has pulled off, on time and to budget, a feat of craftsmanship and renewal that surely no other country could have managed.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Into the unknown”

From the December 7th 2024 edition

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