For your average German citizen it seems that they might feel they are supporting many of their European cousins while they work to keep the books balanced. The year 2010 has become a year where Germany and in some aspects, France, have been supporting an EU that many in the media had left for dead after the economic collapse of Greece and further contagion towards Portugal, Spain, Ireland and even Italy. Greece’s bankruptcy comes after years of debate on the expansion of the EU to the East while avoiding Turkish ascension and having the core EU members pay for future gains. While today national strikes take place all across France, Germans have come to the point where paying more for little personal gain has reached its limit, and further expansion of the EU will likely not take place for the next 10 years or until economic windfalls become again part of the Europe’s growth.
France, Poland and Germany are currently in discussions to enlarge the EU, to include the biggest country in Europe, the Ukraine. Poland and Ukraine have natural trade and economic ties and the inclusion of Ukraine and the desire to pull it away from Russia into the EU, much like their Polish cousins have done, would be great for Poland and its interests. German impressions on expansion while it is covering much of the EU’s debt are that there is little interest at this time. France, who was able to ensure limits to Poland’s agricultural industry to preserve its own is leaning against expansion at this time as well. In an ideal situation France with concessions would likely approve expansion, but with Peugeots and Citroens burning outside of Paris and a general strike against pension reform burning Sarkozy’s support, the French President seems to have to permanently alter France’s employment culture to remove France from greater consequences of the global economic crisis and reinvigorate France’s unemployment rate so that more young French are able to get into the system, even if it will take longer to get out of it.
After much protest, the French Senate passed recently a reform to their pension system to change the age of early retirement from 60 to 62. The controversy comes from the real retirement age, where French workers will likely have to work until 67 to achieve full benefits, but with many succumbing to illnesses before that age, it might turn many to social assistance before full retirement where little money will be given to support those who have worked their whole life for their retirement. In a culture where work is not considered as the main focus of a person’s life, the national reaction to pension reform has brought all of France to the streets. Much of the contradiction of French policy comes with the imminent stagnation of France’s economy, like all others, and the issue of very high unemployment for educated French youths who also do not wish to work until 67, but also cannot find permanent stable employment within their own country. To open the relaxed French labour force to allow for more opportunity for youth is to break the traditional system that currently exists. Sarkozy might not wish to face such strong opposition to reforms, but it seems that even if it pulls him out of French politics, he is the one who will make reforms that are seem as necessary to placing France in a better position in the future.
Stories, and true ones at that, have circulated about the consequences of privatisations, where at the most extreme end suicides have taken place at companies like Renault and France Telecom based on increased work pressures facing employees who may feel they are simply being used up until they retire at 67. Privatisations may not always lead to suicides, as in the case of France Telecom, younger workers often were the one’s who committed suicides, often dramatically. Reforms are likely necessary, as much as no one wishes to challenge the French population, and for extreme issues, there must be a direct reaction to violence and abuse in the workplace. There must be a more sophisticated explanation than what privatisations can do to employees and a national dialogue on why the French government has no options but to change the systems, like all other G8 nations as France remains competitive, is able to support EU expansion at Germany’s side and can remain distinctly French, at work and at life.
