Tuesday 15 July 2014

Still it is hard to get around, one in four young people are out of work.

Speaking in a televised interview on France's national Bastille Day holiday after a military parade commemorating World War I, Hollande tried to persuade the country that his reforms were the right way forward despite opposition within his own ranks.
"There is a sort of illness which is not serious but can be contagious, where we are always deploring and denigrating. You have to be proud!" he said, referring to French people's well-known propensity to complain.
"Don't speak well of the president -- I'm not asking you that much. Or of the government -- I hope that will come -- but speak well of your country.    
"When I'm abroad, people speak well of France... There are lots of entrepreneurs in our country who push forward France's assets, there are lots of big companies that are among the biggest exporters, there is lots of know-how."     Taken from The Local
Val says I think we are all proud of France, we love the lifestyle and the French  or we would not be here, but the number of young people without jobs has got to be a concern. Talking to a French villager yesterday, he was explaining since the "usine/ workshop" cement factory closed at Lexos, Varen has been in decline and now there are no young people here  aged from 20 to 50.
This is desertification  which has happened in villages throughout the SW of France and I do not think any President could reverse it.  
The so-called Responsibility Pact offers businesses €40 billion ($54 billion) worth of cuts to heavy taxes and social benefit charges in exchange for a pledge to create some 500,000 jobs by 2017.