Merde!

Following on from the French motorway discussion, I See that the French government is planning to sell its considerable stake in the network, much to the disdain of opposition leaders. This was all news to me as I thought that being operated by private companies, they were owned by them, too. Apparently not. The French government uses the revenue generated to fund other major infrastructure projects. However it is in a bit of a financial bind and auctioning off its stake in the motorways will raise a fair bit of cash to plug the gap and keep them on the right side of EU budget rules. There are some flaws in this plan. The French public are not happy at them selling the family silver, leaving French motorists paying foreign companies to travel on French roads. And, perhaps more importantly, the revenue raised will be lower than predicted future earnings.