Red tape and state bureaucracy here in France: surely not!

Red tape and state bureaucracy slows everything down and is a drain on French finances. Expats living in France have been saying this for years and now the French President François Hollande says he agrees, promising reforms aimed at speeding up the system.

In a new year address to civil servants, he said the state machinery was "too heavy, too slow, too expensive," and vowed to focus on cutting expenditure

"We will try and do this everywhere, or wherever possible," he said, pledging to make 50 billion euros (70 billion dollars) in savings by 2017. "Everyone must do their bit."

France has already unveiled a cost-cutting belt-tightening budget for 2014 that aims to bring down the public deficit from the current level of 4.1 percent to 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) through spending cuts
totalling 15 billion euros and new taxes.

In his address, Hollande also vowed to minimise red tape and centralisation in keeping with his New Year's Eve message to "make life simple" for French citizens.

Taken from the Local

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