January 14, 2007
Sarkozy: the man who may change France
He wants to reduce the size of government, crack down on illegal immigration, get tough on crime, and encourage economic risk-taking.
Who is this man---the next Republican nominee for President of the United States? No, he is Nicolas Sarkozy, currently the interior minister of France, and the conservative UMP party’s nominee for the upcoming French presidential elections.
Sarkozy made headlines around the world in October 2005 when gangs in Paris went on a rampage of rioting and burning cars, terrorizing Parisians. Sarkozy referred to the hooligans as “scum,” provoking tsk-tsk disapproval from the politically correct EU bureaucracy.
One of Sarkozy’s main targets is last year’s labor legislation, which makes it practically impossible for French employers to terminate workers. Once you land a job in France---which is no easy task with the nation’s double-digit unemployment rate---you have tenure for life. As one might expect, this restriction makes French companies extremely risk-adverse when considering a business or manpower expansion. If you hire someone in France, you had might as well marry them.
The legislation was championed with the slogan “Contre la Précarité” (Against Precariousness). In France, over two thirds of 15- to 30-year-olds aspire not to be entrepreneurs----but to be civil servants. Sarkozy has vowed to repeal the legislation and prod French citizens into a more risk-tolerant mindset.
We will see if Sarkozy succeeds. If he does win the upcoming election, this son of Hungarian immigrants may bring some revolutionary changes to France.