I am completely amazed at the situation in France. I was looking through the pictures from the WaPo, one of them of many protesters holding a sign that read "We will never surrender", and was shocked at the sheer numbers of people. The whole thing is funny on one level, but deeply disturbing on another. France has real fiscal problems that aren't going to be solved without some GDP growth, the 1.5% a year they currently put up isn't going to cut it. There aren't enough jobs for the young as evidenced by the unemployment rate for those under age 26 being above 20%. Unemployment simply cannot be that high. Guaranteeing job contracts for those under 26 is not going to create jobs.
I'd simply like to hear a coherent argument from the protesters about why they are entitled to a job guarantee. I'm not sure I have the capability to understand their concerns. I've worked for 15 years in at-will employment as have almost all Americans, we simply can't understand guaranteed employment. Have these young people not understood economic history, their economic beliefs have never worked. I just don't get it.
France is quickly becoming irrelevant. The fact that France is in the EU could be enough to cause the Euro to fail as well as the EU. France simply will not survive without free market reform. The more socialist and protectionist they become the quicker their demise will be. It's a shame to see, I can't believe it will happen that way. But millions of people on French streets burning cars leads me to believe they don't have the capacity to instill free market reforms.
I know I have readers in France, please comment on your feelings towards these protests and your reasons for opposing the CPE. I've read explanations in the mainstream media, but, I still don't understand how the CPE can draw so much ire that the French would burn cars. It makes no sense.
3 comments:
Actually, as an American MA student in Paris, I have been privy to some French concerns related to the adoption of the CPE. This contract, as you know, allows employers to fire at will an employee under the age of 26, for no reason, within a two year period. Due to the precarity of this situation, the young French employee would in turn have a horrible time gaining access to bank loans or other financial aid in order to survive outside of the parents' home. (If you know France well enough, you know that each and every step of the bureaucratic process entails numerous documents, 'attestations' for housing, insurance, etc., even for purchasing a cell phone!!!). With this in mind, youth hired under this new contract, would not be eligible for loans from banks, who require proof of stable income. Furthermore, without loans or reliable incomes, one hired under this contract would not be able to purchase or rent housing, thus locking them into a cycle of dependancy on parents, etc. It's a very complicated situation and one that requires an overhaul of more than just the hiring/firing process. Like you said, the economic crisis in France demands a greater willingness to adapt and reform, in all areas.
Thanks for the insight. So the young are hoping to be one of the chosen to actually find someone willing to guarantee them income for 2 years, instead one of the 23% unemployed. French banks are completely risk-averse and won't allow loans without this job guarantee. I can understand that a little better (especially older parents trying to become empty nesters). I know it's an issue in Italy with men in their 30's wanting to live at home. Before the CPE is put into action some of the other bureaucratic nightmares need to be smoothed out.
One aspect of the Fifth Republic's domestic policy concerns the many broad social welfare programs and overarching legal protections against the realm of business. A 35-hour work week, strict limits on overtime, a minimum number of weeks of paid vacation, specific procedures for conducting layoffs and firings and requirements for businesses to abide by industry-specific trade union contracts are all examples of the mindset of the French social mindset applied to private business.
The French certainly understand that their economic situation is less than peachy, but to even hint at removing any of the legal protections to breathe new life into the economy borders on taboo. Economic growth at the cost of valued social protections simply isn't worth the price.
As for the protesters, remember that the Fifth Republic was born of a restive population and many distinct socio-political groups, social-leftist agitators in particular. The Fourth Republic was marked by a progression of prime ministers from the Radical Party, the French Socialist Party and several other socially and economically leftist parties. When De Gaulle too power in 1958, the new constitution and resulting laws were influenced heavily by the parties that had fought for control during the preceeding years. Forty years later, social protections are deeply ingrained in the minds of the French people, so it's really no wonder the population is up in arms at the thought of the CPE rolling back labor protections.
Lastly, let's not forget about the students. The striking and protesting students inhabit the age bracket affected by the CPE, so it's no surprise they're not taking the situation sitting down. Beyond that, the student population has participated publically and rather vocally in demonstrations over the years since the founding of the Fifth Republic, so at the very least tradition seems to demand the students to figure prominently in the current troubles.
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