France thinks it’s time to bash the French-bashers, reports The Washington Post.
Seven years after Time magazine declared French culture ‘dead,’ the country’s leaders are rallying behind their 2014 Nobel prize winners with a vengeance.
Minutes after French economist Jean Tirole won the Nobel prize for economics Monday — following French author Patrick Modiano’s win in literature last week — the country’s prime minister took to Twitter with the hashtag “FiersdelaFrance (Proud of France).”
“After Patrick Modiano, another Frenchman among the stars: congratulations to Jean Tirole! What a thumb in the eye to french bashing!” Manuel Valls tweeted to his 90,500 followers.
The fact that this was the first Noble economics prize since 1999 without an American winner made Monday’s victory all the sweeter. Others in France’s beleaguered government also jumped on the Tirole bandwagon.
President François Hollande said the prize “puts a spotlight on the quality of research in our country” and economy minister Emmanuel Macron said Tirole “makes our country and the French economics school proud.”
Read more of this Associated Press report published by The Washington Post.