France isn’t Greece. But as investors worry about the impending presidential election, French bonds have shifted from trading like haven German bunds to be treated more like troubled Italian debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The reassessment of France—from part of the eurozone’s financial core toward its periphery—shows the heightened concern about far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen winning the presidency. The effects on trading were visible even as fears about France receded this week.

Remaining in the eurozone is France’s best protection over the long term, the country’s central bank governor said Tuesday, firmly pushing back against nationalist political sentiment that threatens to yank his country out of the 19-country currency bloc and upend nearly 70 years of European integration, The Wall Street Journal reported. François Villeroy de Galhau said that differences in borrowing costs, or the spread, between France and Germany have narrowed sharply since the introduction of the euro.

The premium investors are demanding to hold French over German 10-year debt has been given a fresh kick higher in the last few minutes after Francois Fillon said he would not take himself out of the running to be the country’s next president, the Financial Times reported. France’s 10-year yield gap with Germany – a measure of perceived riskiness of its debt – is now at its highest level since November 2012, swelling to 76 basis points and the widest margin since the immediate aftermath of the eurozone’s debt crisis.

The drop in French government bonds has accelerated this morning, pushing the premium investors demand to hold its bonds over Germany’s to the highest in three years, as the favourite for the country’s presidency is hit by a swirl of allegations over payments made to his family, the Financial Times reported.

Fewer French businesses failed last year than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis, the latest sign that the euro area’s second-largest economy is strengthening, a report published Tuesday showed. A total of 57,844 French companies filed for protection for creditors, entered receivership or went bankrupt in 2016, according to Altares, which analysis corporate data, Bloomberg News reported. That’s down 8.3 percent from 2015. The number of jobs threatened by insolvencies fell 15 percent to 200,000.

The premium investors demand to own two-year French debt over similarly maturing German bonds climbed to its highest level since the 2013 Taper Tantrum on Monday, as the country’s election looms, the Financial Times reported. The difference between yields on two-year French and German sovereign bonds climbed to 25 basis points on Monday, up from 18.5 bps on Friday and a low of less than 1 bp touched after the US election last November. Yields on the French note climbed 5 bps on Monday, compared to a 2 bp drop in German ones.

The restructuring of private equity-backed French clothing retailer Vivarte has been labelled a “brutal” example of “Anglo-Saxon ultra-liberalism” by nationalist politicians looking to score points ahead of the presidential election in May, the Financial Times reported. The comments by the French far-right National Front party led by Marine Le Pen highlight how corporate activity in France threatens to be affected by national politics this year.

The market for non-preferred senior bank debt got off to a flying start on Tuesday as investors ploughed more than 5bn of orders into Credit Agricole's inaugural trade in the format, Reuters reported. One of 2016's most eagerly awaited deals in the European financials market, the trade is seen as the key to unlocking a wave of new loss absorbing senior debt to be issued by banks across Europe as they square up to new regulations. French peer Societe Generale has already planted a flag in the sand for its own inaugural transaction, announcing a mandate late on Tuesday morning.

Credit Agricole is poised to become the first bank to issue a new form of senior debt, thwarting expectations that BNP Paribas would open the new market and providing a much-needed template for what is expected to become a new European standard, Reuters reported. The issuer announced the inaugural non-preferred senior bond offering on Thursday, bringing one of the most eagerly awaited deals in the European financial bond market in 2016. The new security, which will sit between traditional senior and Tier 2 debt, has been almost a year in the making.

The French government, which owns the remaining 33.3 percent of STX France, hopes to strike a deal that separates the French arm from its South Korean parent and leaves the French state with a blocking minority stake. Aside from the stake ownership, France also has special bid-blocking powers related to strategic industries such as defense. "We have two intervention tools and should there be offers that do not fit our industrial aspirations we will not hesitate to use them," Sirugue told Reuters.