No, I haven’t gone crazy, though if I have, there is method in my madness.
France is a great country. Wonderful cities, some of the biggest European companies fighting it out with the worlds best; a fairly successful auto industry, and a health system and public transport network that the British could die for (in the case of the health service, that’s not an aphorism).
But if you’re not one of the protected elites or a tourist, then France is far from great. France needs fixing. And it’s only when things are broke, really broke that somebody tries to fix them.
Sarkozy has promised a few liberal reforms, but they are mere tinkering, and do little to address the most fundamental problem with France: it’s sclerotic labour market. The generous welfare provisioning, and other problems like lack of risk-taking and innovation, are all second order effects. With less rigidity in the job market with employees attracting workers throught their own packages, it’s likely that the extent of public provision wouldn’t need to be so great. A generous welfare state also ensure the continuance of the system: who would vote for labour reform if it was tied to the end of their fat pension?
That is why Segolene needs to win. Her ‘reforms’ - in reality maintaining, if not strengthening the current system - will cause France to buckle. It will probably be ugly and painful to watch the Fifth Republic go down like a vin de table in the Ritz, but at least then France will be broke. And somebody will have to fix it. And fix it properly.
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