“It is not the government that we are censoring, it is the country that we are endangering,” deplores the Minister of the Economy, Antoine Armand

The gap between the borrowing interest rates of France and Germany increased sharply on Monday after Michel Barnier took responsibility for the Social Security financing bill, paving the way for censorship of his government.

The rate on government bonds maturing ten years stood at 2.92% around 4:30 p.m. and its German equivalent, considered a benchmark on a European scale, was at 2.04%. The difference between these two rates, called the “spread”, amounted to 0.88 percentage points, a level comparable to 2012.

A true barometer of investor confidence in France’s signature, this “spread” has seen a rapid increase of 0.08 points since the close of the previous session, last Friday.

Such a movement “hasn’t been seen since June and the dissolution”explains to Agence France-Presse Nicolas Forest, responsible for investments within the company Candriam. “It’s a sign of crisis. Normally, a French “spread” only moves by 0.01 or 0.02 points in one session”he adds. France borrows at a level comparable to that of Greece, a symbol, more than fifteen years after the European debt crisis.