Of course, being French, that won't prevent them from rioting, striking and generally raising hell when they get it, as they have repeatedly done in the face of the even the most minor attempts at economic liberalization.
I fear things will have to get much worse (and they will) before any real reform is politically possible. But I hope I'm wrong.
I agree 100%. It is not going to be pretty.
The French are extremely passive in general (unless they are communist union types). I was in France in ‘95 when the train workers and the truckers went on strike for almost four months. The truckers blocked all roads into and out of Paris and people were walking three hours each way just to get to work. Whenever they were asked on camera whether they resented the strikers, 99% of them said “no, they have the right to strike.”
Something like 50,000 small businesses went bust and hundreds of thousands lost their jobs before the government caved in (to a raise that came out to about $10 a month). The business closures actually help the Socio-Communists because it increases demand for government jobs (and the corresponding required union membership).
I fear things will have to get much worse (and they will) before any real reform is politically possible.