But politicians in Cardiff Bay were today focused on a different kind of deficit - the gap between political activity in the National Assembly for Wales and media coverage of it - or the lack of it.

BBC: Why doesn't Welsh politics sell newspapers?

Each has an elected local assembly, but the premier political exercise is the election to the National Assembly in Paris.

CNN: HE BRITISH FORCES LANDED

The Socialists now control almost all of France's political institutions: the presidency, the National Assembly, the Senate, all but one of the 22 regions and most local government.

ECONOMIST: A Socialist landslide, but trouble looms ahead