Lionel Laurent

If wily Odysseus is an apt guide through today’s world, so is de Gaulle, who conjured visions that transcended reality.

The political movie of the year tells the story of an odyssey: A grizzled war veteran in exile, desperate to return home to his family and country, leading a rump of an army through impossible odds as massacres, vengeance and mutiny rage.

The political movie of the year tells the story of an odyssey: A grizzled war veteran in exile, desperate to return home to his family and country,...

The political movie of the year tells the story of an odyssey: A grizzled war veteran in exile, desperate to return home to his family and country, leading a rump of an army through impossible odds as massacres, vengeance and mutiny rage.

France is not a common hunting ground for activist hedge funds like billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliott Investment Management LP. Interventionist politicians, embedded trade unions and anchor investors with dominant shareholdings make it hard to agitate for corporate change — especially in an election year that will bring the era of Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business “banker-presidency” to a close.

A new “Battle of the Budget” video game shows the messiness of France’s real-world fight to bring public finances under control.

This week the European Central Bank will meet to decide a probable interest-rate hike at a critical time for the euro economy. Rising headline inflation, not helped by the war in the Strait of Hormuz, will be uppermost on the rate setters’ minds. But their job is getting harder because of the surging support for populist parties in Germany and France.

Is Canada becoming the European Union’s 28th state, rather than America’s 51st? Next week, Prime Minister Mark Carney will join EU President Ursula von der Leyen in announcing a plan for deeper ties as the Trump administration escalates its trade war against its neighbor. Closer trade, security, supply chains and critical raw materials are all on the table for allies looking to offset a wayward US hegemon.

Next week, Prime Minister Mark Carney will join EU President Ursula von der Leyen in announcing a plan for deeper ties as the Trump administration escalates its trade war against its neighbor.

With growth slowing sharply and an electoral cycle curbing fiscally prudent actions, how long before the alert turns red?