With Mitt Romney now emerging as the Republican party’s man to take on Barack Obama in America’s Presidential elections, how are we to read and understand what is going on France, where the first round for who will be President will take place on April 22, with the decider in May.

France is in trouble – it has been in this state since 1974, and the current candidates for the top job do not show any indication that they know how they will tackle public debt which currently stands at 90 percent of GDP, with public spending currently standing at 56 per cent of GDP.

Both front-runners, the Socialist Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy say they will tax the rich 75 per cent, something this is hardly going to encourage entrepreneurship or just as importantly create any confidence in the bond markets, where one ratings agency has already downgraded France’s AAA status.

So, how will the new President, assuming that it will be Hollande, the polls certainly think so, approach France’s new debt burden – denial is not an option, nor is playing the anti-immigration card anymore.

A period of austerity with cuts to public spending, will need to be backed with a more flexible tax plan, at a time when France’s old enemy across the channel has just cut the top rate to 45 per cent, where does the future President think the rich will leave their country for?

None of this will be welcomed politically, which is why it is important that the cuts are managed at a slower pace than they are over here, otherwise France will find that it will bequeathing a future generation with far less than it currently enjoys.