Not something the French authorities, including Christian Noyer,the Governor of the Bank of France wants to hear, though a major rating agency has threatened to do just that.

The response has been to point the finger across the Channel to the UK, following the recent Cameron veto of the EU pact, basically saying that France is in much better financial shape than the UK and if there was going to be another Sovereign downgrade, the UK is next in line. Our low growth and higher than average Euro inflation are the main reasons given but on the French debit side, is the massive exposure to risky sovereign debt by the French Banking system, that has already taken a big hit through Greece.

The UK response is to point out that the French have to pay more to attract funds to their bond Issues than we do in the UK, an International vote of confidence in the UK Plc.