French revolution: Sarkozy's blitz of legislation for his first 100 days in office

Nicolas Sarkozy has flown off for a week of " meditative retreat" at a monastery to contemplate the social revolution he plans for France.

In jeans and open-neck shirt on the morning after his election victory, the diminutive president-in-waiting greeted supporters in Paris before a limousine whisked him to the airport.

His destination was believed to be a mountainside retreat in Corsica, where he will "psych himself up" before his inauguration on May 16.

Meanwhile in Paris between 300 and 400 youths protesting against the victory of French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy smashed shop windows and burnt a scooter in central Paris on Monday evening.

Riot police tried to chase the youths, who were chanting anti-Sarkozy slogans, away from the Place de la Bastille where the protest began.

Sarkozy's spokesman Xavier Bertrand wasted no time outlining the first dramatic changes he intends to make as part of his 100-day blitz of legislation to revive the ailing economy.

In sweeping Thatcherite reforms which represent the worst fears of socialists and unions, Mr Bertrand said among Sarkozy’s initial acts he would:

• Dismantle the compulsory 35-hour week by allowing workers to do overtime without the current demand that employers pay extra taxes to the state if the limit is exceeded.

• Make interest on mortgage repayments deductible from tax to boost the flagging housing market. • Scrap inheritance tax for 95 per cent of the population because "the fruits of a lifetime of work should not be handed over to the government".

• Introduce compulsory minimum prison sentences for repeat offenders. • Begin talks with unions to ensure compulsory minimum levels of public transport even during strikes.

Mr Bertrand said: "Mr Sarkozy believes people may have a right to strike, but people also have a right to work."

The wave of reforms aimed at increasing wages and cutting unemployment is expected to meet intense resistance from the Left.

Street violence erupted in France’s major cities within hours of Sarkozy's election on Sunday night, but was swiftly dealt with by a heavy police presence and there were few reports of trouble during yesterday.

For the French, the raft of reforms announced yesterday was seen as the first taste of a social revolution which will change the face of their country for ever.

Many fear their culture of long lunches and six-week summer holidays where relaxing has been turned into an art form will be transformed into a free-market "madhouse" -where only the hardestworking survive.

For centuries, the French have scoffed at the way much of the western world works more than 40 hours a week, snacks at its desk at lunchtime and takes a mere fortnight's holiday in the summer.

But while many workaholic nations have become richer, France has been plunged into a spiral of public debt, weak growth, low wages and spending power and soaring unemployment.

As they woke yesterday, Sarkozy's ominous warning of a social and political revolution and "rupture with the old habits of the past" would have had many choking on their croissants.

His pledge to shake off the shackles of the nanny state will be welcomed by many entrepreneurs who have until now found their businesses throttled by red tape, high social charges and inflexible labour laws.

But his victory speech remark that "France’s moral crisis has a name – it is a crisis of work" will strike terror into the hearts of millions of others whose biggest dread is a Thatcherite meritocracy which rewards labour, enterprise and competition but punishes apathy, excessive leisure time and dependence on state handouts.

Many will find an end to the 35-hour week, to jobs from which they cannot be fired and to generous state pensions for civil servants from the age of 55 too difficult to dismiss with the usual Gallic shrug.

Sarkozy left no one in any doubt of his vision for France when he told euphoric supporters on Sunday-night: "I don't believe in living on social welfare. I don't believe everyone is the same.

"I believe in merit, effort and reward for that effort and I believe in social mobility. But above all, I believe in hard work."

And with a mandate of more than half of the record-breaking 85 per cent of the electorate that turned out to vote, it is also clear many French secretly know that Sarkozy is probably the only man who can revive their nation's ailing economy and save France from itself.

THIS was a fun part of the article.....

“For centuries, the French have scoffed at the way much of the western world works more than 40 hours a week, snacks at its desk at lunchtime and takes a mere fortnight’s holiday in the summer.

But while many workaholic nations have become richer, France has been plunged into a spiral of public debt, weak growth, low wages and spending power and soaring unemployment.”

He speaks a truth that no one can argue with, and these truths are obvious to anyone with half a brain, and so this will make his job a whole lot easier but not 'easy' by any means..

If you run an auto repair shop, it's awfully tough to convince a customer to change out the engine if it's only a matter of a bad spark plug, but it's an easy sell if the motor not only has bad plugs but two thrown rods and a cracked cylinder as well.

In France's case, it's more a matter of the block being cracked, all cylinders gone, the engine is on fire and the transmission fell out miles ago, and the car is only moving forward because of momentum.

The problem is, many of the French are asleep and drunk in the back seat and don't want to be woken up, even if the car is careening out of control, and so it will still be a hard sell.

Hell yeah, the winds of change are a-blowing on the banks of the Seine.

And none too soon.

He kind reminded me of Jack Nicholson in that picture.

Agreed.

I think this dude’s going to show Madame Speaker Pelosi how a 100 day reforms are REALLY done.

Although I suspect that a particularly flatulent cow could outdo her, I get your meaning and I'm sure that you're going to be proven right. He's inherited a very sick and unfriendly patient but he seems to have good ideas and drive. Let's hope that he will be steadfast, because he will be attacked mercilessly at every step of the way. Any sign of weakness will be exploited and used against him....the Socialists are fighting for their lives and they know what the stakes are.

I'd say its next to impossible. Trying to change France's anti-capitalist mindset is akin to trying to move a mountain. That's the scale of the task Nicholas Sarkozy faces in changing France's statist immobilisme culture. Time will tell if he is in fact France's Ronald Reagan - or another pseudo-conservative like his predecessor Jacques Chirac. We in America wish him luck.

I agree that it's going to be very, very tough, but he has a clear majority on his side and it's obvious to anyone that the old Socialist "solutions" simply don't work, and so there should be some openness to change although it will most likely come very very slowly and with tremendous effort. Hopefully he will have the strength, resolve, and the backing to get it done..

He looks like a Cowboy!

And a cowboy is precisely what France needs. Hopefully Mr. Sarkozy has a very big bullwhip and knows how to use it :-)

Pray for W and Our Troops

Always :-)

I would love to talk with my former brother-in-law.....he’s French (Peignoir, actually - don’t know if that’s the correct spelling - but, I think it means he’s 1/2 French and 1/2 Arab.) Anyway, he was very smart, and I recently found out he now works here in America for a very large int’l tobacco co.....he would have a take that is probably VERY similar to yours.

I only visited France once a few years ago (I was not impressed in any sort of a positive way) but France's problems are so obvious that I think that anyone who pays even minimal attention to the news can see the problems and their causes, many of which are cultural as well as ideological.

Much like President Bush was a Gift from God at exactly the right time in history for us here in the USA, Sarkozy is exactly what the French need, whether they will admit it to themselves or not. They will put up a noisy fight (crack addicts frequently enjoy their vice and don't care about tomorrow or generations to come) but if Sarkozy is truly made of strong stuff and has a good political base he may have a chance. The great Bush economy here is definitely an incentive to all backward, Socialist nations to pursue tangible reforms.

I agree but the real problem is the same one illustrated in the Bible. The Israelites were freed from enslavement and saw great miracles and were at first grateful. Then as the experience of enslavement and the reality of the miracles became distant in their minds and hearts they became bored and as soon as Moses was away they created a golden calf as an abomination to worship instead of God.

This is the same process we witness today. People have a habit of finding comfort in falsehood when their needs have been fulfilled or the threat of evil does not seem so near. They want to build up the Golden Calf of government to fulfill their needs and wants. They sacrifice true freedom for the pigs wallow of irresponsibility and indulgence.

Europe has awakened for now but as many in this nation have already returned to slumber and worse enjoining themselves in congress with the very evils that will be their destruction we can only keep up the fight because we can not afford to sleep because if we sleep in our fight and our faith we will wake to find ourselves caught in the avalanche of history as all we value is swept away.

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