PARIS — In a press conference today, French President Sarkozy explained further his new”policy of civilization.”
Background: the President is losing ground in polls, the primary concern of the French being the improvement of their standard of living, which is not in sight. Facing pessimistic forecasts of next year’s growth rate (less than 2%), energy prices increase, stable and still high unemployment rate, unprecedented trade deficit and inflation coming back into the picture, the French have a low moral.
One could ask why do the French expect so much from the President and the government, and if it is fair and realistic to put the blame on Sarkozy after only 7 months in power, in such a difficult and out of control international context.
Probably because it is in the French tradition to expect solutions coming first and foremost from the State and its leaders. In this respect, France and the French did not seem to have changed that much… but also maybe because Sarkozy and his team played too much on the”wishful thinking” side during the presidential campaign. The idea was that electing Nicolas Sarkozy would in itself boost French moral again, as well as recreate a climate of trust needed for economic growth to start again. Well, with such high and abstract expectations, no wonder why people feel disappointed now. Again, it was probably misleading in the first place to think that the new President and his government would be able to change the country in such a short time. One should also recognize that in such a difficult economic and social context, President Sarkozy’s private life exposure may actually reveal to be a very ambivalent communication tool.
It is against this background that President Sarkozy presented his new”policy of civilization” today. Here are the main highlights:
Institutions: French Constitution should be amended to take better account of”gender equality, diversity within society, integration policies and bioethics”. Again, this bottom up approach looks like very abstract, but one should never forget that amending constitutions is a French national sport.
Economic growth: instruments used to measure growth should be changed, and the 2 Nobel Prizes Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen will be tasked to think about this. How will this relate to concrete measures? No idea.
Environment: France should be cautious about GMO’s
Education: 10 big French universities/campuses will benefit from rehabilitation measures in 2008. This is actually an issue where the young Minister for education Valérie Pecresse performed quite well over the past months.
Work and standard of living: French companies should better associate their employees to their results and benefits, under various existing formula. 2008 should also see the abolishment of the 35 hours a week work law.
Immigration: France should pursue a policy based on quotas.
Capitalism: France will resist”the rise of speculative and sovereign funds which prove to be extremely aggressive (…) France has made a political and strategic choice of protecting its companies as well as giving them the means to develop and defend themselves.”
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