Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury goods empire that has made him the richest man in not only France but Europe, said in a television documentary this year: “I feel like an ambassador through [LVMH] for the values that represent the civilisation, culture and the image of France.”
So when it emerged last week that the dapper 63-year old – whose Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Dom Pérignon brands are regarded the world over as the epitome of French chic and joie de vivre – appeared to be turning his back on the country by applying for Belgian nationality, the news caused an uproar in his homeland.
It poured fuel on an already fiery debate about taxes, entrepreneurship, nationalism, the young Socialist government’s economic policies and France’s image abroad. But it has also exposed the country’s deep-rooted unease with money, epitomised in the loosely translated maxim of Honoré de Balzac, the 19th century novelist, that “behind every great fortune, there is a crime”.