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From the Independent here: It’s not surprising that fuel protests in Paris turned violent – the French establishment has long ignored social inequality
Excerpt:
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What most of the French do not understand is that the Treaty of Maastricht (that introduced the Euro) called for a maximum governmental deficit of not more than 3% of GDP. Today it is approaching 100%!
The EU Central Bank is getting skittish, and rightfully so. But, the French are not a people to suffer-in-silence as do the Germans (or Nordics).
Nope, they march right down the Champs-Elysees and wreak havoc on their way. Well, actually it was a bunch of nerdy young-adults with a grudge who did it - but, still ...
I disagree, for some reason people in France have been relying on the government and businesses to play Santa Claus for decades. People stop working (on average) at age 58.7 rather than closer to 65. The work participation of people 55 to 64 in France is just 37.8%, that is terribly low.
The French are also champions in striking. In 2016 French workers had 123 strike day per 1000 employees. You know how many we had in the Netherlands per 1000 employees? 8 strike days.
Why would employers start business or invest in France? There are ample of unemployed, 9.3% compared to 3.9 in the Netherlands. When Macron tried to achieve labor reforms, French protesters turned violent, KLM/Air France protests even turned into an angry mob ripping off the clothes of Air France managers.
France should be a haven for foreign employers but let us be honest, what English or foreign business would want to settle in France? The number of proficient English speakers is way lower than in Northern European countries. Add to that the aforementioned strike willingness and the inability of the French of accepting changes in their work conditions/reform. It is not strange that the unemployment is that high.
The previous government were most likely not unwilling to make changes, it is the French public that makes such changes near impossible through violence, protests and lengthy strikes. When the French government wanted to raise the pension age the French unions called on people not even old enough to work to come out and protest.
Let us compare, in France foreign companies/persons invested $858,300,000,000 which sounds pretty impressive if not for the fact that (for example) the Netherlands has $5,499,000,000,000 of foreign investments into our country. And you know why? Well we do not know a lot of strikes, our working population is usually very proficient in English, highly trained, a stable government and a good investment climate. The thing France does not have. In Europe the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Belgium all rake in a lot more foreign investments into their countries.
And those investments create jobs, they create a prosperous work environment. The unions in most of these countries are participants in the capitalist process rather than hindering the capitalist process.
Yes French governments have been unwilling to make necessary changes but that is mostly due to the unwillingness of the French public to accept those, even in times of need (like the mandatory 35 hour work week which has not created the desired effect of more jobs). France needs a real overhaul to attract investments, lower unemployment but the current behavior of the French is a big red warning sign for all planning to invest in France, RUN RUN to other EU countries if you want to invest in Europe. That is the message the French public is once again giving off in these weeks.