AT LAST, August is upon us. The summer fruit is plump and the sea is warm. You can almost hear the warbling melody of “
La Mer”, Charles Trenet’s ode to the seaside. In summer Europe’s natural order is inverted. The urban become rural. Big cities disgorge their citizens and suck in foreign tourists. Northern Europe comes south, easing the pain of austerity.A good tourist season in Spain may herald recovery; in Greece it could raise hope that creditors will eventually alleviate its debt. Eurocrats have decamped from Brussels with high hopes this year of not being recalled by another summer crisis in the euro zone. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is taking almost three weeks off, some of it in the Italian Alps. Not so François Hollande, the French president. He will rest for just a week, alternating with his prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault. Other ministers will get a fortnight but must stay close by, able to return to their desks at short notice. The cabinet is grumbling, but Mr Hollande is firm: “At a time of crisis, taking two weeks off is not a given.”Indeed, many Europeans are having austere breaks, booking fewer days away or...
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