France is thus far behind its German neighbor, which is doing better than expected with growth of 0.2% in the third quarter. Given the resilience of the German economy in the face of the war in the Middle East, the government increased its growth forecast for 2026 to 1.3% in early October.
To respond to staff shortages in several sectors of activity, Spain has mainly called on hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, mainly from America, which has boosted employment and supported demand.
For its part, Spain has experienced strong momentum since the end of the Covid crisis thanks to its vigorous domestic demand, despite high inflation in the country, which is partly offset by government aid to households.
The Irish case also remains special because the GDP of the cloverleaf country, very dependent on the results of the multinationals established on its soil, can fluctuate significantly each quarter in one direction or another.
INSEE revealed this Friday the surprise decline in French activity in the third quarter while the institute expected an increase of 0.1%. With a contraction in its GDP of 0.1% between July and September, France is at the bottom of the table at this stage in penultimate place, just ahead of Lithuania which shows a decline of 1%.
This poor performance places France among the poor performers in the euro zone, while its results should not exceed 0.4% in France compared to growth which would however reach 2.6% in Spain. Detailed results are not yet known for all 21 eurozone member states.