Why France 2024 isn’t Greece 2009

"Is France now Greece on the Seine?" wonders the Wall Street Journal, as investors fret that turmoil in Europe's second-largest economy could trigger a new eurozone crisis.

Southern European countries, including Greece, are watching the North's economic woes with a smirk, hiding their anxiety about whether the problems will catch up with them, just as they have started to get their fiscal numbers in order.

Is France, after all, the new Greece? Are there any parallels between the situation in France today and in Greece when the crisis broke out?

"The situation in France is characterized by a ballooning fiscal deficit and a fragmented, unstable political system that seems incapable of implementing the fiscal course correction that is required to make debt sustainable, required by the EU, expected by financial markets," says Mij Rahman, head of Europe at Eurasia.<...