Potential pension pickle peril

There are indeed “interesting times” ahead for the French government, even if the actual subject matter doesn’t exactly grab the imagination initially. Pensions – and forgive the admittedly awful alliteration in the title – are about to become news BIG time.

An ageing population and how to handle increasing pension demands is a major headache for governments throughout the whole of Europe. But France of course has its own peculiar twist on the issue.

Some public sector workers here enjoy “special privileges” and are allowed to retire at 50 or 55 – on full pension - even though the official retirement age is 60. The result is, as people of all political hues agree, a huge financial burden on the nation’s purse strings.

On Sunday the prime minister, François Fillon, declared that draft legislation for reform – especially of those special privileges - is now ready and he’s keen to press ahead.

The president, Nicolas Sarkozy was reportedly surprised by his prime minister’s announcement last weekend, but it’s hard to suspend disbelief that he wasn’t fully aware of what Fillon was planning. The truth in France is that the president is the guy in charge. He appoints the prime minister and sets the policy agenda. Indeed Sarkozy ran for office promising a substantial overhaul of the pension system.

So the week’s grace that Sarkozy has given himself – he has said he’ll make an official statement on September 18 – is more than likely a clever way of sounding out what sort of opposition there is likely to be.

And already there are signs that a repeat of the national strikes that crippled the country back in 1995, when the government tried similar sweeping reforms, is unlikely.

The Socialist Party – squeaking with its by now expected diffident voice – has said it’s not exactly saying “no” to the need for change, although how far they’re likely to support a rightwing-led reform is questionable. They must have some pride left even if the other side has poached many of their top bods for prime jobs.

And although the unions are likely to strut their stuff, at least in front of the cameras, even the left-leaning national daily “Liberation” doubts whether they’ll be able to wield the clout they did 12 years ago.

What’s clear is that Sarkozy needs to tread very carefully and make sure he has everybody singing from more or less the same hymn sheet – something he has been pretty successful in doing so far during his short time in office.

You can bet your bottom euro that if the reforms go through relatively painlessly, he’ll take all the credit. But no matter how close he might have been to Fillon in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections earlier this year, there’s no doubt who will be blamed if millions take to the streets and the country is once again brought to a standstill.

Rugbymania – a mightily padded spectacle

The Nation is holding its collective breath in anticipation of six weeks worth of sparkling sportsmanship culminating in a wished-for, wonderful win for the hosts.

Well that’s certainly the impression being given by the media and promoters of the rugby world cup.

The country’s hopes are pinned on the 15 Dieux de Stade, (or rather the full squad of 30) - who’ve taken time out from posing for shots for the next raunchy edition of their annual pin-up calendar - to bring glory and pride on a level not witnessed since the glory days of the 1998 football world cup.

Not surprisingly perhaps, even the President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has jumped on the bandwagon and is reportedly brushing up his knowledge of the gentleman’s game. The team manager, Bernard Laporte – a man who speaks faster than a TGV train travels – has put his lads through months of gruelling preparation and is determined to finish his coaching career on a high. And the country expects great things of the Great Tinkerer and his prodigies, especially after convincing performances in their warm-up games.

There again, if it all goes pear-shaped for him, Laporte still has the comfort of a new job once the tournament is over, as he’s due to take up his new post in government as a junior sports minister. So much for not mixing sport and politics.

In spite of all the hype there’s one major problem with the event. There are simply too many countries involved who will be either fodder or warm-up practice for the top teams during the group stage. Padding on a major scale has led to the inclusion of 20 countries, many of them with little or no real tradition of playing rugby. Portugal, for example, only has 4,000 registered players back home – all of them amateurs. And even if the whole lot took to the field in their match against the mighty New Zealand, the chances are they would still be thrashed.

The US will also be fielding a largely amateur team as they take on giants South Africa and England, and will probably stand as much chance of reaching the knock-out stage as Namibia, who in the 2003 competition narrowly lost to powerhouse Australia 0-142! Oh yes and spare a thought for the Japanese, who in one of their preparation games squared up against a second string All Blacks – and managed just 17 points against 147.

So expect some cricket scores in the opening games, before the real competition starts in the quarterfinals.

Of course the organisers will argue that the best way to promote rugby internationally is to include those smaller nations. But in the five previous tournaments, countries in the top tier (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and France) have filled 35 out of the 38 places in the knockout stages.

Argentina and Samoa will hope for a repeat of their previous exploits and prevent one of the favourites making it through, and Italy are also likely to be spoilers in their group. But the simple truth is that there is a huge imbalance of power and the skills in the rugby world and this tournament just ain’t going to chance that.

Still, when the nonsense of the first couple of weeks is over, the real competition should get underway – and that promises some delicious match-ups. Australia versus England, or New Zealand versus Ireland in the quarterfinals for example. Now even President Sarkozy, with his newly discovered love of the game, would be up for that. And better still if, as hoped, the French get their hands on the Webb Ellis Cup on October 20 (against New Zealand?) that’ll surely provide a lovely “bounce” for everyone this side of the channel.

The dog days of summer

It’s La Rentrée – the period immediately after the long break when the French rather reluctantly head home en masse. A sure sign that summer is almost over. The motorways were chock-a-block last weekend, familiar faces and programmes are back on the telly and the usual round of “Universities” have come and gone. Ah yes the “Universities” – the term used here for the big annual powwows organised by all the political parties, unions and employers.

For the Socialist Party this year’s event was a chance for even more navel-gazing than ever. Mind you not all the big cheeses were around for a group wound licking, and that left the door open for the former golden couple to stake their individual claims of their visions for the future of the party.

All well and good perhaps, but while they’re doing what they do best (very little) Nicolas Sarkozy continues his “open government” cherry picking with his latest appointment to a parliamentary commission, Michel Rocard – a former Socialist prime minister (under Mitterand from 1988-1991).

Ho hum.

Meanwhile an apology – of sorts.

It appears that there is more than one spelling of the world “People” here in France. It all depends on where you source your celebrity gossip. Readers of the broadsheets (or the French equivalent thereof) will be treated to the borrowed word in its original English spelling (God forbid).

However, if your tastes veer more to the weekly glossies crammed full of paparazzi pics, the chances are you’ll be delighted by the phonetic “Piple”. This revelation came after perusing the pages of “Closer”, which had won the right to publish photos of the Socialist Party chairman, François Hollande, smooching with his new woman during his summer hols. He had tried to stop publication, but the courts upheld the rag’s right to “publish and be damned” slapping a miserly €15,000 fine on the magazine. So following on the heels of Sarkozy’s airbrushed love handles and Segolene’s week on the beach, it’s now official on all levels. Politicians are Piple and fair game for any long lens.


Back to political policy and the government was quick to react to the latest horror story of a so-called “dangerous dog” when a 15-month old girl died after having been attacked by an American Staffordshire terrier.

The Interior Minister, Marie Aliot-Marie immediately promised to enforce existing laws (there have been three passed by Parliament since 1991 – the most recent was in March this year) and introduce even stricter controls.

These include limits on the import of dogs from Eastern Europe and the requirement for vets to be present during the purchase of certain breeds. Potential owners will also have to follow a special education course – which might not be a bad thing across the board rather than just limiting it to types. But unfortunately the media got hold of the one angle that shed the undoubtedly good intentions in a rather less serious light; The ban on certain crosses – most notable among them the labrador-boxer! Hardly two breeds known for their aggressive nature.

So a summer of mad dogs, paedophiles, gruesome infanticide and a fair share of Piple news comes to an end with la Rentréé heralding not only the return to work but of course the start of the school year.

And Sarkozy was on hand to promote two of the promises he had made at his inauguration as President in May. The first is most admirably to integrate children with handicaps fully into the state education system.

The second is to make compulsory in all secondary schools, the reading of letter written by a World War II teenage resistance fighter. Guy Moquet was just 17 years old when he wrote to his parents on the night before his execution back in 1941. Earlier this year Sarkozy said that Moquet should serve as a model for today’s youth, presumably in keeping with his belief that France needs “to take risks and follow initiatives.”

While the letter may well tug at the hearts of many children, there are the inevitable grumblings and rumblings from teachers. Not because of its contents but rather at government plans to “rationalise” the number of positions available. The unions of course are claiming that it will lead to an increased workload for teachers and a deterioration of educational standards.

Critics maintain Sarkozy’s honeymoon period is almost over and that the true test will come in the shape of pension, education and labour reforms expected over the next couple of months. But who will be left to rouse the opposition into action? And with Permatanman already jumping on the country’s hosting of the rugby world cup as yet another vehicle of his own self-promotion campaign, a home would likely boost his popularity.