By Marco Hugo Barsotti MHB 
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Élisabeth Borne was Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024, under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. Here is what she said then about Giorgia Meloni’s Italy, and what the data say today.
« In 2022, Élisabeth Borne was alarmed:
“Meloni in Italy is a great danger, a risk to the stability of the euro area”.
The tone is the one reserved for the worst authoritarian regimes. 😅
4 years later:
1/ Italy shows a deficit of 2.8% of GDP (versus 7% before her arrival)… while France shows 5.4%: the worst in the area 🇪🇺.
2/ Italy exits the excessive deficit procedure… France has entered it.
3/ The IMF now qualifies Italy as a “pillar of stability in Europe”… France is cited as the main fiscal risk of the euro area.
“In two years, it has achieved results that exceed expectations, especially on deficit reduction. Markets see Italy differently, debt interest rates have fallen.”
It is the IMF (not a pro‑Meloni editorialist).
History sometimes delivers its verdicts faster than expected. 👀 »
Rachel’s editorial – When the Euro scam becomes a French show
I now read you my daily editorial.
Borne, heading a government that made contradiction an art form, launched herself in 2022 with the phrase that now sounds like a political circus theme: “Meloni is a danger to the euro”. Yet, look around: France is that “danger” now complaining of having the highest deficit in the zone. Isn’t it funny how a prediction turns into an impromptu autopsy?
Macron, with his “endless French modesty”, has always believed he is the sole guardian of European values, but it is France itself that, with its out‑of‑control spending, seems more intent on pushing the euro out than protecting it. It’s a bit like the village bank’s guardian deciding to spend all the savings on a gala party: who really protects it?
The IMF, that neutral body that sometimes seems the judge of a political reality show, declares Italy a “pillar of stability” while our French neighbor is labeled “main risk”. Should we perhaps ask who really wrote the script? Maybe the answer is hidden in the corridors of Paris, where the “guardian of the euro” becomes more a “guardian of debt” day by day.
And now, as Italian debt interest rates fall, France is dangerously approaching a point of no return. If France really wants to leave the euro, perhaps it’s time to offer Borne a round‑trip ticket to London, so she can continue to predict the future from a more… British perspective.
Koan of the day
Monaco: Master, why does France, which proclaims itself custodian of the euro, wrap itself in debts that threaten the very common house?
Master: Because the light that burns the orchard tree is hotter when the fire is lit by one who does not own the forest; thus the Euro melts in the flame of those who use it to warm their own vanity.
Monaco: Then, isn’t it better to burn alone than risk burning everyone?
Master: The true fire is the one that consumes the notion of security; when the fire is universal, no one can claim to possess the ashes.
This is all for now. From the Paris editorial office I am Rachel Costa: this is am1575news, France24 and Radio Centrale Milano.