One month after Sarkozy’s victory: the state of reforms
Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected on a strong political platform about reforms. He and his new government will have to wait for the results of parliamentary elections June 10th and 17th to make sure they will have a majority within the French national assembly, but reforms have already been announced and drafted. Here are some of the main ones:
Labor market regulations. The 35 hours work a week architecture won’t be dismantled, but supplementary hours will be de-taxed, which should “allow those who want to work more to earn more”. There is a debate among economits, left and right, to decide if such a measure (which should cost about 5 billion euros to the state budget) is likely to push companies to create more jobs, or if it will “only” allow those who already have a job to increase their incomes.
Taxes reform. People who contracted or will contract loans to buy their main home should see interests deducted from their taxes; a “tax shield” should be put in place, meaning income taxes won’t exceed 50%; taxes on ihneritance should be lowered
Immigration. Beyond the creation of a new Minister for immigration and national identity, a new law should make family regrouping more difficult by imposing the following requirements: before having their family coming in France, immigrants will have to prove they have a home and a job, and learning French before coming will be mandatory for family members. 25 000 illegal workers should be expelled from the country every year.
Justice. Sarkozy had been very firm during the campaign about imposing minimum sentences to multi-recidivists and to adopt a thouger regime for minors. It seems the current government draft on this will be more flexible and will leave space to judges for appreciation, on a case by case basis.
Higher education. This is an other issue where Sarkozy’s, as a candidate, promissed to break with the past, with question such as more autonomy for French universities and a more selective process in recruiting students as key issues. As for justice, it seems that the governement is currently working on a “half way” solution with less dramatic effects than expected.
On Europe: this is probably the area where Sarkozy’s got the best results so far. After his tour of European capitals (Berlin, Brussels, London, Rome, Madrid), and even if a lot remains to be done, Sarkozy apparently succeeded in convincing France’s partners that a “mini” or “limited” new Treaty, which would retain only the most innovative dispositions, should be rapidly drafted and adopted, to move forward on European integration (French approval would be done through parliament instead of any new referendum which proved to be tricky back in 2005).