Secular Café: A German view of France

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A German view of France Aug 14th 2012, 12:34 I found myself agreeing with most of this. http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-849817.html Quote: France is a deeply nostalgic and narcissistic country which is also, precisely for those reasons, very charming. The country would like to be part of Europe's north, but its heart belongs in the south. It will take more than navel-gazing to get the nation through the euro crisis unscathed. A few weeks ago, French President François Hollande spoke in the garden of the French Embassy in Rome. He had met that afternoon with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and, once again, had opposed German demands for reforms. And then, in the evening, he gave a speech in which he bemoaned, at length, the demise of French as an international language. It sounded oddly nostalgic, as if he somehow hoped to stop the global triumph of English. Both appearances in Rome had more in common than it would seem at first glance. One of the reasons France is currently such a difficult partner in Europe is that the country Hollande represents is old-fashioned -- and hopelessly in love with the idea of being old-fashioned. It lives in the past, and even when it knows that it's in trouble, it refuses to change. France is the world's fifth-largest economy, and at the moment investors are even paying to lend the country money. Nevertheless, France also counts as one of Europe's economically ailing countries. It has become steadily less competitive since the 1990s, unemployment has topped 10 percent, and government debt amounts to 89 percent of gross domestic product. Although France is a long way from becoming another Spain or Italy, if it doesn't do something soon it could very well end up in dire straits like its southern neighbors... ...France wants to play a role in the world, but only if it can set the tone and dictate the conditions, as it did in the past when it was a true world power. France can wage war in Libya, but no French government seems capable of bringing down ancillary wage costs. It is telling that Hollande never uses the word "reform" when he talks about making the French economy successful once again. Instead, he keeps talking about redressement, which can be translated as "recovery." This doesn't invoke the image of effort, but rather of a sick person who just needs the right injection to get better. Since he has been in power, Hollande has repealed a portion of the few real structural reforms of recent years. The retirement age has been reduced for some workers, and those who wish to work longer than the legally mandated 35-hour workweek will have to pay additional taxes in the future. The new president does not necessarily want to reduce the public spending ratio of 56 percent or the non-wage labor costs of 50 percent. Apparently he does not view the problem as excessively high government spending, but rather insufficient government revenue. During the election campaign, Hollande promised to be a "normal president." It now looks as if by that he meant going back to the way things have always been... ...It is impossible to deny that France has an inferiority complex regarding Germany. When France lost its AAA rating with Standard & Poor's in January, the worst thing about it, from the French perspective, seemed to be the fact that Germany kept its top rating. When Moody's recently cut the outlook on Germany's AAA rating from "stable" to "negative," the French evening news jubilantly opened with the story. According to a survey published some time ago, Germans are simply unable to enjoy something unless they've worked for it. They even experience performance pressure during sex. Most major French media outlets reported on the study. There was probably something reassuring about the notion that the Germans, even if their economy is in better shape, are at least unable to enjoy their lives to the full. France sees Germany as its opposite. The Germans only look into the past to assure themselves of what they never want to become again. Germany clings to the present. Its chancellor runs the country from a building with an exposed concrete façade rather than a gilded palace. Seen from Paris, Germany looks like an excessively modern country where brutal economic liberalism prevails.

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