Living in France for almost a year it was very hard to miss the absurds, which are usually absolutely not funny, in this beautiful country. Actually they hit you in the face with all their might as soon as you begin to try to live your life there. France is part of old Europe with a past that influenced all the continent, but without any future in the horizon and nobody bother to do anything about it.
France is an integral part of European Union, the mightiest economical union ever been formed in the history, however the French doesn't cease to complain about it, despite the fact that their economy is a burden on the EU back and without the open boarders and the existent of the EU the country would be in a huge turmoil that only god and the French knows where it would have led to.
So many problems exist behind the quite peaceful classic facade, and as a foreigner coming from the most troublesome area in the world I couldn't miss it, and as a current residence I cannot keep my mouth shot (as if I ever could).
The French economy is a dying horse, that was given less and less food and now everybody is surprised to barely walk . The unions in France are strong, which is fine as long as they know where the boarder between helping the employees and destroying the employers is. In France this boarder has been crossed a long time ago and looking back it will not be seen even with a binocular.
35 hours a week, long “vacance” and seasonal other vacations, no extra hours and absolutely not working on weekends. Not much compared to the rest of the world, the result is extremely low salaries despite a high cost of living (Paris is considered one of the 3 most expensive cities in the world). Unemployment rates in France are high, and growing higher, as no normal entrepreneur is stupid enough to build a factory and employ people in France, the cost is simply too high (not to mention the taxes, but thats a different story). Nobody except restaurants/bars/cafes are allowed to work on Sundays and the last fort that stood still, the Plan de Campagne Shopping center collapsed a month ago due to the demand of the unions to force the law and close it down, all this despite the active protest of the workers that actually wanted to gain this additional income.
The unions in France crossed the boarder, and they are frightening away businesses, factories and plants. The French partnership in EU enterprises are becoming a burden to the other burdens as after all it's a business. Huge employer such as Alcatel and Airbus are about to close down their French factories, labs and production lines and tens of thousands of people will be added to the unemployment statistics.
Government organizations and companies that due to the union pressure cannot fire anyone are still paying salaries to thousands (some says 20% of the actual government employees) of people simply to keep them away from doing anything, They call is the “golden cage”. That's fine, they cannot cause any damage, but as government organizations are limited in open positions, these golden birds are a double problem, they are useless and the cannot be replaced. So the employment opportunities for the young generation is getting smaller and smaller, the waste in the government organizations is getting higher and the productivity getting much lower. The talented young people have to leave the country (they can do it, thanks to the EU) mostly to England, just to learn that their language is not that international as they always thought it is, and the language of the “Nation of Shopkeepers” on the other side of the canal, a language they defied for so long is essential.
Not to mention the experience is highly valued everywhere and they simply had no chance to gain it. Not that the government isn't trying to do something, they did try to pass a bill or two to allow more chances to the young generation. However the government had to back of due to the pressure of both the unions and the youngsters themselves, different reasons same result: The youngsters wanted to grab everything while the unions wanted to preserve their position as it is. As a rule the French are always trying to get everything when it comes to political issues, they don't understand the concept of step by step. The protest against the union in the case of Plan De Campagne was one of the rare times someone protests against the unions, nobody heard of course, i guess nobody listened.
The unions are solely responsible for the growth of the unemployment in France and the week governments along the years just made it simpler for them. No they are not worried for the people they are worried for the workers those that has jobs, two cars, house and several dogs. The other simply does not belong to the union…
But is this situation good for the workers themselves ? No its not ! The minimum salary in France is 1200 Euro while 80% of the workers doesn't earn more then 2000 Euro, a sum that is impossible to live with if you have a family. 80% of the French does not own their homes. Is this a good situation ? Very soon the French worker will find that he has a “Vacance” but cannot pay for it.
Another irritating example is the newspaper “Liberation” the first national newspaper of many that will die right after the election. Any health attempts has been blocked by the workers preventing firing their colleagues or allowing them to be retire with a reasonable compensation. The result will be that the newspaper will die earlier then expected and the compensation will be the minimum if at all, after all the “Liberation” is a private newspaper and even Rotchild does not like to bet on a dead horse.
It looks bad, very similar to the time before England's Margaret Thatcher, however I am not sure France can produce a strong enough leader to break the rule of the unions the way the “Iron lady” did, Maybe Sarkozy after all he is considered a hard liner, but i doubt it, he is probably just another politician.