ABSTRACT
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the French economy is increasingly integrated into the European Union, which has become an economic giant. Indeed France, along with eleven other countries of the EU, has abandoned its national currency in favour of the Euro. However, some aspects of the French economy remain unique and its characteristics are sometimes difficult to understand. Viewed from abroad, it is easy to give contradictory descriptions of the French economy. On the one hand, France is still seen as a kind of Eden flowing with champagne, cognac and foie gras, where markets in small Provençal towns are piled high with bright displays of vegetables and fruits de mer. On the other hand, it is also the land of high technology, of the train à grande vitesse (TGV), and of the highest concentration of nuclear plants to be found anywhere in the world.
