John J. Metzler

PARIS — Just a year after the Socialist Party regained the presidency, the winner and unassuming new occupant of the Elysee Palace (White House) Francois Hollande, may have wished he was still in the political opposition.

After all, it is easier after to critique than to govern, especially in a country battered by the waves of domestic left-wing union demands, global recession, and a lingering Eurozone currency crisis. Not that anyone on the left or right planned to put President Hollande, Monsieur Normal, on a political pedestal reserved for Mitterrand or de Gaulle, but all the same governing France holds less charm than criticizing its former government.

President Hollande’s Socialist’s face the usual bouillabaisse of problems; massive public spending, swelling unemployment, and negative economic growth. Stated another way government spending is Europe’s largest at 57 percent of GDP, the unemployment has surged to 11 percent, and economic growth in the first quarter this year was minus 0.4 percent. Add slower public benefit increases which have infuriated the Left, higher youth joblessness which hurts everybody especially Afro/Arab communities, and the albatross of poor economic competitiveness which dulls France’s global standing , and you have a brewing tempest.

Paris still glistens as the City of Light, but with far more beggars and ubiquitous homeless despite the social nets of state welfare. More small shops are closing and the “A Louer” for rent signs bloom everywhere. The hobgoblinized fear of Anglo/Saxon globalization remains part of the social climate.

Indeed France’s ubiquitous polls have not been kind to Francois Hollande; his national popularity stands at 25 percent, the lowest recorded for any president in over a half-century. Fewer than one in five people who voted for Hollande’s Socialist party, are happy with “Monsieur’s Normal’s” first year in office, and there are four to go.

“The more France falls into recession, the more Francoise Hollande goes into denial,” laments Nicolas Baverez in the weekly magazine Le Point.

The lack of competitiveness for French business seems a major concern. We are not talking about Airbus here, or the splendid array of champagnes, wines, perfumes, and luxury products for which France can be justifiably proud. It appears that these deluxe products are being scooped up by Japanese, Mainland Chinese, Russians and Gulf Arabs, as fast as they are produced.

The French daily newspaper Le Figaro exclaims,” China’s Assault on the top global brands.” Mainland Chinese investment is flowing into France and has bought into the country’s iconic if somewhat passé Club Med resorts, and other brands. It’s part of an overall 21 percent growth in Chinese investments in Europe.

Buying into the best is not the problem as much as the business competitiveness of the rest; large state owned or subsidized auto producers such as Renault, Peugeot and a host of other companies which are simply not competitive given high wages and higher social welfare and benefit obligations.

Many businessmen refuse to start new enterprises because of the webs of red tape and regulations, thus causing a dearth of job creation.

Foreign investments overall in France fell during 2012 to 471 from 540 the previous year, according to Ernst & Young.

On a different level, higher taxes and the shortfalls of the state medical system have seen a net emigration of French medical doctors. Over the past few years, 876 doctors have moved to the French-speaking parts of neighboring Belgium while another 465 have gone to Quebec in Canada. A further 492 went to Great Britain, 433 to Germany and a further 290 to Italy.

No doubt France remains a well-off and prosperous land. Sadly what is happening is a slow but certain deterioration of the lifestyle, a loss of competitiveness and an erosion of global attractiveness.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for WorldTribune.com.

  “A Louer”, City of Light, Eurozone currency crisis, Loser: Socialist Francois Hollande picked the wrong time to win the presidency