France

As a leading advocate of a common currency within the European Union, France has striven to meet the Maastricht criteria by taking a sharp axe, if not guillotine, to its public expenditure. Health services were an obvious target—long characterised by a certain extravagance. For example, citizens can consult as many doctors as they wish, as often as they like; and doctors themselves have not suffered the squeeze experienced by colleagues elsewhere. Times are changing; and not all the reforms are driven by the euro. Our thanks go to Dr Hervé Maisonneuve not only for proposing the review of French medicine that follows but also for doing much of the work.