French Unemployment

Mr Chirac’s TV appearance in support of the Treaty was much flagged by the Media yesterday and today. In what was in reality a total non event, a couple of things caught my attention. One of the tame audience had an interesting question:

Asked by one voter why the unemployment rate was so much lower in the UK than in France, Mr Chirac replied that Britain had social rules that would not be “acceptable to us”.

Such a question is not surprising from a young audience. As a young person in a country which like France has a stagnant labour market, finding a job is incredibly difficult. If you are an immigrant, forget it. The system effectively steals from the young and gives to the mature long term employed. When Chirac said us, he means those lucky enough to be in a job. Fortunately at least one French Politician is aware of this.

In a speech in southern France, Mr Sarkozy said that with a 10 per cent unemployment rate France should stop saying its system worked better than that of others. “In 20 years both the left and the right have doubled the credits to combat unemployment but we have not produced one fewer unemployed person,” he said.

All it needs is someone to have the courage to take on the task of labour market reform, a task that would be made much more difficult with the passing of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.