‘Eat the children’: Gaspard Koenig on saving France’s economy

Transcript

World Finance: So: a new economy minister for France. Is he the man to turn the country around?

Gaspard Koenig: He is clearly well-educated, understands the economy… has a grasp of it, at least. Much more than his predecessor.

Belongs to the modern, reformist, new-labour sort of the left. So it was extremely encouraging, and not only for him, but also there were many other appointees under him. They all belong to the same generation, and I thought clearly Valls – the prime minister – is about to wipe out the socialist party! And replace the old grandees with this young generation, which is globalised, knows the economy, and could really move the country forward.

World Finance: Well the former economy minister Arnaud Montebourge, he was known for turning away steel company Mittal, saying it wasn’t welcome in France. So now this new economy minister – is this the start of France turning its back on its socialist roots?

Gaspard Koenig: Montebourge was very vocal in the fact that he was a protectionist. He really wants to revive Colbertism, to revive borders, to repatriate all industries in France. So he’s living in the old industrial age.

Clearly Valls, the prime minister, is about to wipe out the socialist party, but it lasted for about 14 days. Because the majority is so slim in parliament: the socialist party only has a one member majority, and among their 300 plus MPs, there are between 50 and 100 of them who are strongly opposed to the new policies of the government because they’re really lefty.

World Finance: So socialism and economics; do they work together, and are there lessons to be learned from France?

Gaspard Koenig: The agenda of Ed Miliband is very similar to that of Francois Hollande at the beginning of his tenure, so I think you should be very careful in the UK not to replicate the same mistakes.

It’s all a question of principles. There was this little pamphlet by Jonathan Swift at the beginning of the 18th century. And at the time there was a very big crisis in Ireland, because people were starving and there were too many children.

Just for fun, if you want – to be provocative – he said, ‘Well, people should eat the children, and then you resolve both problems at the same time.’

The thing is, economically, it makes sense. Economically, if you have a problem with pensions, you could send all the pensioners overseas. It makes sense economically. But why don’t you do it? Because you have principles which are not economic: which are philosophical, if you want.

And so, if you believe in socialism, you’ll find an economy that will make it work. If you believe in capitalism, you’ll find an economic way to make it work.