Can Emmanuel Macron solve France's economic riddle? | Larry Elliott

If the radical centrist frontrunner blames France's problems solely on the lack of supply-side reform he is setting himself up to fail

There is a familiar rhythm to French politics. President gets elected amid a wave of optimism. President says root and branch reform of the economy will lead to stronger growth and falling unemployment. President fails to deliver the promised transformation. Economy continues to struggle. President gets booted out of office.

In the past 30 years, Franiois Mitterand, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Franiois Hollande have won elections for the mainstream parties of the centre left and centre right but France's economic problems have not been resolved. It says something about how poor performance has been under Hollande that growth of barely more than 1% in 2016 was good by recent standards.