The price of French patriotism? A 70% pay cut

Spare a thought for the heads of French public companies who are having to dig deep and find their inner patriot after the new Socialist government issued guidelines limiting CEO pay to 20 times that of the lowest paid worker.

Just a day later Henri Proglio, chief executive at power group EDF, has apparently agreed to what amounts to a 70 per cent pay cut. He earned €1.6m last year – 65 times more than his lowest-paid worker.