France is now “the sick man of Europe.” Switzerland, meanwhile, is ignored — reduced to clichés: a small country, no euro, banks, Nazi gold…
Yet between 1990 and 2000, the two countries followed almost identical fiscal trajectories: high public debt, rising spending, and mounting pressure on public finances.
In 2001, Switzerland wrote a debt brake into its Constitution — and actually enforced it.
The result: federal debt cut from 24.7% to 12.7% of GDP; cantonal debt from 12.8% to 6.2%.
Same starting point, opposite discipline, diverging destinies.
Why do France’s know-it-alls hold the Swiss model in such contempt rather than study it?
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