In Dec 2012 a European bitcoin exchange said it had been granted "payments service provider status" by French government officials. (Meaning French government considered the exchange to be like Paypal.) If other companies that trade in BTC seek to be legitimized by governments, it could undermine one of the basic things that defines BTC -- that it works best outside the "white market" sector.

In a controversial move the French government has said that it will enforce a law so that the words 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' will not be allowed to be spoken on the television or on the radio.

Here's a guy on Reason.com, a prominent libertarian publication, talking about how he prefers France's single payer system to what we have in the US. That is to say, perhaps the free market is the best scenario, but the alternative isn't necessarily near the disaster we claim it to be. So far, the discussion among libertarians seems to be that European medicine is a disaster, but I've heard plenty of people claim the contrary. Let's give this a fair discussion!