French Politics

[deja vu]

Sarkozy steps in to end protests

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged $730m (£507m) in economic aid to its Caribbean territories in an effort to head off escalating protests.

He also promised political reform in Guadeloupe and Martinique, during an emergency meeting with representatives from the two territories.

There has been a month of unrest in Guadeloupe over rising food prices. Union leader Elie Domota responded by saying the unions would return to negotiations on Friday, AFP reported.

But he described the French proposals as "fuzzy" and did not say whether the protests would be called off.

Meanwhile, tourists who had been trapped in hotels by three days of rioting began flying out of Guadeloupe after police pulled down barricades erected by the protesters, AP reported.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7900754.stm

[burnt fare]

You know, when Ivory Coast had its own political unrest a couple of years ago, the French government took its citizens out of the country. Nothing was provided to the Ivory Coast residents who were not French citizens. Cocoa plantations are big money in that country (for the owners) and keep the chocolate companies in supply while people have jobs (though the pay is not very good and even children will work in order to help feed their families).

Now that other French territories have their own troubles, did the French government provide any similar aid to Ivory Coast after the battles ended? Just asking.

[icecream]

France is bracing itself for a second nationwide strike in two months by protesters urging the government to do more to protect jobs and wages.

Public and private sector workers are expected to join the marches and services in schools, hospitals and transport are likely to be disrupted. President Nicolas Sarkozy says he understands the worries of the people.

But he insists there is nothing more his government can do to help those struggling in the financial crisis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7951949.stm


I have a feeling if enough show up he will find a way to do more. Strength in numbers.

[CielOnTap]

President Sarkozy may say he does not have money to accommodate the wage/salary requests. He needs someone to tell him that there are three ways to process information-the verbal way and the tv images won't do. Time for him to have staff make up a flow chart showing how the government pays the professions, the hospitals, etc. When the taxpayers see how much burden is placed on their tax monies, all will be keen to determine who pays what.

Having a broke populace or no public transit is not good for tourism or international image. Especially if the president remembers how much travelling he did last year as president of the EU in the first six months of 2008. How much did that travel cost the French people?

[CielOnTap]

A cartoon illustrating the effect of the French strike on the president.

[CielOnTap]

Sacked French workers take to 'bossnapping'
Module body
2 hours, 50 minutes ago

PARIS (AFP) - Bosses across the world are having to break bad news to employees as companies go under. But that can be a risky business in France, where some furious workers have taken to holding their managers hostage to demand better pay-offs.

In the latest outbreak of "bossnapping", workers at a pharmaceutical factory were Wednesday holding their boss in his office for a second day to force him to improve their redundancy packages.

"This action is our only currency. But there is no aggression," said union representative Jean-Francois Caparros from the plant owned by the US industrial conglomerate 3M in the central town of Pithiviers. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090325/business/economy_finance_france_labour_strike

What can be a concern about holding the boss hostage-they may have a dependant needing him or her for care or the boss him or herself could have a medical condition requiring medicine that is at home.

There could be court case by the bosses in such scenarios. If anything, the workers seem upset at not being given the opportunity to address work cuts prior to their implementation. If the workers have unions, the union reps need to share the laws with the workers. C'est la vie-that's life.

[burnt fare]

Life is not champagne wishes and caviar dreams, French people. Time to make your own appetizers and paths in work. What are your elected politicians doing for the regions affected by job closures? Retraining-or waiting for you to get angry first before your region gets any benefits?

[CielOnTap]

Translation: "Zapatero? It's Sarkozy. You weren't stupid enough to believe that I said that you weren't intelligent, right?"

[CielOnTap]

05/06/2009
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS IN FRANCE
Sarkozy the Campaigner Retakes the Stage
By Stefan Simons in Nimes

Nicolas Sarkozy is back in his favorite role -- that of election campaigner. The French president is campaigning on behalf of his UMP party in the run-up to European elections -- and already has his eye on the 2012 presidential vote in France.

Sarkozy is back, teetering on his tiptoes, with his trademark big gestures and jerking shoulders. Speaking in front of 4,500 selected supporters of his Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party -- a thoroughly bourgeois audience of a certain age -- the French president carves a line in the air with the edge of his hand and punctuates his utterances with the stab of a pointed finger. The Le Parnasse sports stadium, where the rally is being held, has been decked out with blue carpeting for the occasion. Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking in front of the French tricolor and the European Union flag, builds himself up into a sweaty rage.

He rants, complains, praises, spouts polemics, speaks of "a beautiful France" in the heart of Europe and evokes the era of Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle. His hands reach into the air when he rails against "tax havens" and "the suicidal system" of a virtual economy and when he calls for "sustainable growth" and the "moralization of capitalism."

Sarkozy is back -- not as the head of state, not as president, but as the election campaigner in perpetual motion. It is his favorite role, one that he never really gave up. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,623172,00.html

Back to my queries-will Sarkozy change the laws relating to Roma living in France and their requirement to have to confirm residency every few months? What is the progress on job creation, not internships, for the youth and minorities in France? What is his energy platform, given what transpired during the winter when Russian distributed gas (but sourced from a republic outside of Russia) was stopped?

[CielOnTap]

France's Sarkozy has health scare while exercising
Jul 26, 2009 10:41 AM
Deborah Seward
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS–French President Nicolas Sarkozy felt unwell while exercising Sunday and was undergoing medical tests, the Elysee Palace announced.

Sarkozy "felt faint" Sunday while doing sports and his personal doctor immediately took charge of him, the two-sentence statement said. No other details were available.

Elysee officials would not comment on the telephone. France 2 television, however, said Sarkozy was hospitalized after his morning jogging session. http://www.thestar.com/article/672094