French support for the EU project is crumbling on the Left and Right

"I believe that we have reached the end of road for the European Union, and that France no longer has any interest in it. The EU has left us mired in crisis long after the rest of the world has moved on," he said. Mr Montebourg stops short of 'Frexit' but calls for the unilateral suspension of EU labour laws. "As far as I am concerned, the current treaties have elapsed.''

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The only practical way France can claw back competitiveness is through deeper deflation than in the rest of the eurozone, but this would prolong the slump and play havoc with nominal GDP and debt dynamics. It would be self-defeating.

There is no realistic possibility of genuine fiscal reflation in the eurozone, let alone a Keynesian New Deal. Mr Montebourg is right is concluding that France will remain paralyzed until it takes back its sovereign instruments.

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Marine Le Pen is ahead of [Sarkozy] in the polls, drawing steady support near 30pc with a heady brew of Leftwing economics and Rightwing nationalism - straight out of the 1930s. She promised to "end the nightmare of the European Union" and this too tells as much about the populist calculus.

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A Pew survey of Europe in June found that 61pc of French voters have an "unfavourable" view of the EU, higher than in Britain. These sorts of polls keep cropping up in France. They are invariably dismissed as rogue findings.

Professor Thomas Guénolé from 'Sciences Po' in Paris warns against wishful thinking. "Incredible as it may seem, a referendum on 'Frexit' would probably be lost by the European side. As in the UK, 'leave' would win," he said.