Free Republic

Business eager for Sarkozy revolution By Henry Samuel in Paris Last Updated: 12:12am BST 09/05/2007 Anthony Daniels: Sarkozy must ring the changesFull coverage of the French elections French business leaders looked forward with relief yesterday to a loosening of the country's rigid labour and enterprise rules following the election of Nicolas Sarkozy, the reformist Right-winger. But unions warned the new president not to try to ram through economic changes. While no business group overtly backed Mr Sarkozy against Ségolène Royal, his Socialist rival, during the electoral campaign, it was clear where their preferences lay. Miss Royal had accused Mr Sarkozy...

On Sunday France elected a pro-American, conservative named Nicolas Sarkozy as its new president. The 52-year-old who beat back by 10 percentage points his Socialist rival, promises an unabashed Thatcherite agenda for France. Sarkozy also replaces the embattled Jacques Chirac, a relic from an earlier age of French politics, who made anti-Americanism his hallmark. Sarkozy campaigned on a platform of sweeping reforms, pledging to dismantle large portions of the social welfare state and to make France competitive on world markets again. He also pledged to reduce taxes, shrink the size of government and shut down redundant government programs. Carrying out...

In the end the decision the workers had to make was elementary: extend your working week from 35 to 40 hours for no extra pay or your job goes to Hungary. "Our employers were sly," said Michael Stahl, 42, who has worked as a technician at the Bocholt plant of Siemens, the German electrical engineering firm, since 1977. "They already had the land for the new factory in Hungary when they approached us. Effectively they blackmailed us." Siemens has created a huge stir across Germany over the past couple of weeks by successfully deploying arguments about the impact of globalisation,...