Some people in France were upset to learn this week that their political chaos was being laughed at… by the Italians.

Ooo, that’s rough 🤣

The article spends precious attention span to explain the joke, but then:

The cost of servicing national debt this year is estimated to be €67 billion - it now consumes more money than all government departments except education and defence.
Forecasts suggest that by the end of the decade it will outstrip even them, reaching €100 billion a year.
Last Friday, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded French debt, potentially making it more expensive for the French government to borrow, reflecting growing doubts about the country’s stability and ability to service that debt.
The possibility of having to turn, cap in hand, to the International Monetary Fund for a loan or to require intervention from the European Central Bank, is no longer fanciful.

Then sprinkles a little fearmongering on top because of current protests and strikes.

But I prefer this sentence:

One possibility is that the country’s inherent strengths – its wealth, infrastructure, institutional resilience – will see it through what many feel is a historic turning-point.