Arc de Triomphe dominates the top of the parade street Champs-Élysées in Paris.
A jungle of laws
Employment Lawyer Florence Aubonne office on an exclusive address right on the most famous landmarks in the French capital.
On her desk at the law firm Flichy Grangé is a compact, red book on 3368 pages, the country’s labor laws.
– It is very complex. A simple question is not always so easy to answer, says Aubonne.
Everything is by the old
She recently received a call from an American company enthusiastically asked if there had been an dramatic change in French labor after it came a new law last summer.
The new law would make it possible to negotiate lower wages and longer hours for companies in crisis.
But she could not answer yes. The law has only been used five times since the summer of 2013. 35-hour week is alive and well.
Sun Open shops
Last week, the new French finance minister Emmanuel Macron forward several suggestions to liberalize the French economy in an attempt to do something with rigid rules.
• He will have Sunday opening stores several weekends a year to prevent tourists taking the Eurostar train to London to act in weekends.
• He will contest postpone bus routes and open up some protected professions.
But it has everything led to trouble, especially in his own party, the Socialist Party.
Presses from Brussels
Meanwhile, the French government knife at his throat. The European Commission would not give stamp of approval on the country’s budget for 2015.
If it is not a better balance between income and expenditure in a matter of months, risking France a humiliating penalty.
Theme at the EU summit
When EU summits meet in Brussels this week, is just the economy and the lack of growth theme.
The countries disagree about what is the right medicine.
Germany criticizes France has done too little to speed up the country’s economy.
France and Italy believes Germany even have to spend more money to stimulate new growth throughout the eurozone.
Going beyond self-confidence
– France is the second largest economy in the eurozone. If it is improving, if France goes better, the country will buy more, and will be an engine also for our neighbors, says Yves Bertoncini, director of the foundation Notre Europe, which was founded by former EU President Jacques Delors.
Therefore, there is concern that it moves slowly in France.• Unemployment has attached itself over 10 percent growth in output (gross domestic product) is the weak 0.3 percent after two quarters without growth.
• central government budget deficit is expected to be 4.1 percent next year, far above the EU limit of 3 percent.
But so far it has therefore been very slow to introduce reforms
Fundamental Problems
Bertoncini believes there are many structural problems Somdet must be addressed:
• There French school system creates excellent elite students, but many other falls along the way and leave school without any examination papers.
• Labour is expensive because of all social spending.
– But the most important is probably a psychological problem. France is in recession and I think the French are depressed because of this, says the director.
France used to be a great nation that had a message for the world, maintains Bertoncini.
– France is still an important country, but there is a feeling of decadence a depressing feeling that we are not the world anymore, says hani, which itself is French man.
The bosses go out in the streets
Frédéric Grivot runs a company that produces bottles outside Paris and has 46 employees. He is also vice president of the CGPME, which organizes managers in small and medium sized businesses.
For a few weeks ago was his members out in the streets of Paris to protest.
– We locked symbolically gates of Economy Ministry with links to show how French enterprises are blocked by unfair rules, he said.
Grivot mean business owners struggling with a violent bureaucracy and too rigid labor laws when hiring or denounce people .
– As far as we can see is not France today on the way to win in the global competition, he points out.
Widespread discontent
Before the weekend was France’s creditworthiness downgraded from top grade AAA by the rating agency Fitch.
Alexandra Ferrero (30), nurse.
– Everything is expensive and the economy goes bad. There are not many who are satisfied, no. I think it’s perfectly OK if it gets open on Sundays shops. There are already many who work on Sundays. I think it is good that it will open several days.
Fabien Delavigne (36), a computer engineer.
– There goes bad. But I’m not worried, for there is much wealth in France, it is just bad distributed. I believe this is primarily a political problem. There is a political crisis. I do not think anything about the proposal Sunday open stores. All one would suggest is small stuff. It will not change a thing. One must make structural reforms and have leadership.
Elliot Palfi (20), studying graphic design.
– I think everything is a big mess at the moment. It is difficult to have confidence in the government. I have lived in the US for several years and find people in France are working too little. It is too easy to get benefits. Sunday Open shops are a good thing. In the USA, the open all the time.
im@ap.no
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