Things will never be the same

For the first time since 1875, a French president delivered a speech to both houses of parliament in Versailles yesterday.
At Sarkozy’s request, parliament had recently amended the constitution which previously prohibited presidents from doing so, a manifestation of the separation of powers.
Before the amendment was passed, presidential messages and speeches were read aloud by the presidents of both houses, the National Assembly, and the Senate, as the parliamentarians solemnly remained standing during the address.
Two years after being elected, and after a convincing election victory earlier this month in the European Parliamentary elections (and in which he trounced his principle rivals), Sarkozy was keen to set out his priorities for the next phase of his mandate, as the world economy is still adversely affected by last year’s financial and economic crisis.
What conclusions does he draw from the crisis?
Things will never be the same.
The crisis is a major one, but it can also be an opportunity to renew and rejuvenate the nation.
The post Cold-War economic model, characterized by deregulation in the financial industries, is dead. The ensuing economic crisis has engendered a strong need for regulation, justice and protection from its harsh consequences. As such, he does not believe that, after the recession, it will be business as usual, for mentalities have evolved..
According to Sarkozy, there are two types of globalization:
*one favoring external growth: rabid competition entailing low prices, and thus low wages at home;
*the other, internal growth: by producing and consuming more, we all contribute to the general prosperity of the nation.
The challenge is to redirect globalization from the external growth model to the internal growth one.
He believes that the economic meltdown will make that transformation possible, as the Anglo-Saxon model based on deregulation, high levels of debt, and speculation has visibly failed us all, and been discredited for doing so.
In addition, this shift in public perception should render the French model more palatable. The ambition of this model, according to Sarkozy, is to conciliate human, social and economic progress.
That is an ambitious project indeed…
To succeed, the French economic model must be competitive, and its productivity equal to none. That can be assured only by quality education, health and social services, research and development, infrastructure, and quality of life.
Sarkozy’s aim is to mobilize all human and material resources to achieve the goal of improving the fundamental components of the French model, which entails close cooperation between the private and public sectors.
France’s approach to fostering economic development and prosperity is different form America or Britain’s.
Yet, the failure of the latter (financial capitalism) model has, in many ways, helped rehabilitate the French model:
The post-crisis world will be one in which France’s message shall be better received and understood, Sarkozy said in his speech.
France’s ambition, he added, it to place the economy at the service of human beings, and not vice versa.
In order to do that, we must revert back to the basics: work, entrepreneurship, creation, production, values jettisoned, according to Sarkozy, by the proponents of the now collapsed Wall Street model of growth through debt, speculation, and the creative, but hazardous use of complex and toxic financial instruments.
In the new world that is about to dawn, he said, our engineers, artists, our unique conception of public services, our long-held ability to cultivate private and public sector cooperation will once again become considerable advantages.
Yet, Sarkozy recognizes that the tasks at hand are enormous.
For, since the Trente Glorieuses (the thirty years of uninterrupted growth and modernization that spanned the 1944-1974 period, post-war to first oil shock), France’s economic performance and efficiency have been anemic.
The French model may now be less often casually dismissed in foreign economic circles because of its unique ability to protect its population from the most acute effects of a global economic meltdown (this also explains why the French stimulus package was less significant, proportionally, than America’s, for social and economic safeguards are integral elements of the system), it nevertheless needs to be modernized.
Structural unemployment is one major weakness, and is much higher than in comparable economies. Youth unemployment has similarly always been very high, while the employment of seniors very low!
How the nation treats its underprivileged and its minorities is also an urgent and major challenge.
Equality is a term in the French Republic’s official motto, but egalitarianism is not.
Though we must ensure that true equal opportunity does exist for all, that does not mean everyone must be treated equally, but, rather, according to one‘s just deserts, the president insisted…
France’s attempts to socially integrate foreign minorities are also failing.
Hence, Sarkozy once again promoted his affirmative action plan (called discrimination positive in French), in order to give more to those who have less, in the president’s words.
The scheme will be based on social, and not ethnic criteria.
On a corollary issue, he also used the speech to comment on a discussion that has dominated French media of late, concerning the wearing of the burqa (the ponderous, full-length cloak worn by women in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan) by some in France’s inner cities.
For Sarkozy, this is not a religious freedom issue, but one of human rights and dignity.
It is not a religious symbol, but one of enslavement, and debasement, the president claimed.
Parliament is to grapple with the issue, and a law barring the wearing of the apparel may be forthcoming…
On the budgetary front, France’s management of public finances has been particularly inefficient the last thirty years, and Sarkozy fully intends to address the issue.
He has refused, however, to significantly cut costs and trim the state budget in order to tame ever-growing deficits. He considers that the nation needs more investment in the economy, not less.
Nor will he increase the level of taxation, already inordinately high in France.
Public spending will simply have to be used more intelligently: the central question is the quality of public spending, he asserted.
In a nutshell, here are the priorities Sarkozy considers vital for the state to finance:
*ensuring no one falls through the cracks of the social safety nets;
*scholarships for gifted but needy students;
*vocational training for all those between 16 and 18 who are no longer in school;
*enabling all those who have lost their job to retain their salary for a year while they
undergo training in order to find work in a sector where it is available;
*investment in green technologies;
*investment in higher education (high schools and universities).
In essence, his strategy is to help and support all those who, in France, one way or another, create, and create wealth, the goal being increasing the number of those actively contributing to national prosperity.
Conversely, in order to cut costs, he will streamline the state (only one retiring civil servant out of two will be replaced), as well as the state’s cumbersome administrative structure.
French social programs will also be revamped, if they are not to go bankrupt. Hence, the retirement scheme will need reform, and the legal retirement age, now at 60, will most likely have to be extended.
If the unions cannot agree on a program to fix these issues, such as the level of payments and pensions, then Sarkozy will act, in mid-2010, if need be.
Yet, Sarkozy is ready to launch a discussion on what the nation’s priorities should be, which he plans to finance by issuing a public loan in the Fall.
Parliament will be consulted, as will the leading players in the economic, scientific, academic and artistic communities.
For the next three months, we shall discuss these issues together. Decisions will be made once the national debate has been held. What I am requesting is a revolution in our ways of thinking, the president said, a radical change in our relation to the future.
Sarkozy, practically mid-way through his mandate, is determined to act quickly and boldly: you will have understood that what I am proposing is action. Let us have the courage to change.
It remains to be seen whether he shall be heard. Resistance to change is endemic in France, and militantly conservative activists entrenched in every nook and cranny of the state and the economy…
He may just yet, however, have the necessary determination to make some changes for the better…

(the photograph on top is by Benoit Tessier/AP)