Well, we all waited with baited breath - er, your breath was baited, I trust! - to see just what the highly-charged 'brainiac', 'Mini' Macron would do to the French economy. Er, well, not much, actually, according to Matthew Lynn at The Coffee House.
In fact, the reforms are typically timid. Just take a look at some of the detail. Companies will be allowed to by-pass industry-wide union agreements and hold a referendum on employment changes. Really? It is hard to see many thinking that is a great innovation. After all, who knows what crazy stuff the staff will vote for? Multi-national companies might be allowed to shut plants in France even if they make profits elsewhere. Well, that should be normal. A real reform would let them close plants they no longer required, and get rid of staff they don’t need, regardless of overall probability. There will be some minor caps on wrongful dismissal pay-outs, and some extra exemptions for companies with fewer than fifty staff. And, er, that’s about it.
At the same time, all the major barriers to hiring new staff are left in place. France will still have some of the highest payroll taxes in the world. Social security charges add 45 per cent to the wage bill in France, compared with 13 per cent in this country and 19 per cent in Germany. It still has the 35- hour week. It has among the most generous parental leave in the world – mothers get 34 weeks for their third chid, and both parents can take three years out with their job held open. And so on.
Needless to say, the major French unions immediately declared their virulent opposition and promised strike action which, bien sure, the police unions will be happy with because that will give them plenty of work and beaucoup overtime! The chances of any improvement in the French unemployment rate of 10%, with youth unemployment at over 20%, is somewhere between 0.0% and -0.1%. According to Mr. Lynn, these pathetic changes are on a par with those little 'Mini' Macron introduced when he was Finance Minister for the utterly useless President Francois Hollande. After a great splurge of publicity, the only item of any real significance was the deregulation of long-distance buses. Well, as a former bus-driver myself, I can applaud that but it hardly galvanised the French economy.
Now, what's the French for 'Must do better, Emmanuel, or your grandmother, oops, sorry, I mean your wife, will get very cross'?
"The chances of any improvement in the French unemployment rate of 10%, with youth unemployment at over 20%..."
That can be a deadly brew. Too many young people, especially males can result in a default to radicalism and violence. Entire unforeseen movements can rise quickly.
Posted by: Whitewall | Thursday, 31 August 2017 at 18:06
WW,
No sign of unrest among fwench youf so far ...
Posted by: TheBigHenry | Thursday, 31 August 2017 at 19:11
Unless they get their act together the French are not going to get their fair share of the British jobs lost post Brexit. It looks like the Germans will be the prime beneficiaries. But that's to be expected. It's a darn shame my grandfather isn't alive to see this. He didn't speak very good English but you didn't need much to get Benny Hill. And he loved watching Benny Hil. He certainly would have appreciated David Davis. That man is a real card. I love the way he bleats about Europeans being mean to him while demanding they deliver two cakes so he can have one to eat now and one to have later.
He reminds me of that guy. And everybody knows a guy like that guy. He's the guy who always bolts for the door when when the restaurant check arrives and claims he only had a salad. And then wonders aloud why no one invites him to dinner parties anymore. The clock is tick tick ticking away and March of 2019 approaches. The fun will begin sooner I think when it becomes clear that whining doesn't get you anywhere.
Posted by: Peter G | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 00:31
Uhm Henry?
Hows come it is you always on me usage-wise while you never (well, hardly ever) call David out on his?
I await with bated breath ... though I'll admit I once met a Japanese lass where the baited was probably appropriater.
Posted by: JK | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 01:05
JK,
Several reasons: (1)David's less correct usage was not addressed to me personally; (2)I kinda understood what he was saying, anyway; (3)he had already used the word "flaunt" instead of "flout", so it woulda felt like piling on; (4)you and I are buddies, and that's what buddies do -- they rank each other out; (5)David is also an online buddy of mine, but he is more sensitive than you are; (6)for all I know, "bated" and "baited" may be synonyms, as well as homophones, in England.
Posted by: TheBigHenry | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 04:22
JK,
(7)Just the other day I remarked to David:
Posted by: TheBigHenry | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 04:37
I'd like to say I feel sympathy for Les Grenoilles in electing the Micron but that would be hypocritical of me.
Suck it up mes amis.
Posted by: AussieD | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 05:50
Bugger it - grenouilles not grenoilles
Posted by: AussieD | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 05:51
"A Thatcherite he is not. He emerged from the Socialist Party, and for all his new plumage he remains at heart a defender of the sacred French model."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/08/31/macron-grasps-nettle-labour-reform-frances-woes-run-deeper/
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 08:08
Alright, alright, JK, so I made a mistake, mea culpa and all that sort of thing, but you try writing this crap day in and day out and see how you get on! In the meantime, you will just have to wait with bated breath until I hand in my hundred lines at tea-time!
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 01 September 2017 at 08:22