French 35-hour week 'a disaster'
Poll confirms Sarkozy is poised to succeed Chirac
Chirac hints at changes to France's 35-hour workweek
---------------------------The French government yesterday described the 35-hour working week as a financial disaster that was costing the state billions of pounds and promised to reform the system despite fierce union opposition.
In an interview in yesterday's Le Figaro, the finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that the 35-hour week had lumbered the state with £10 billion a year in additional social charges and that it had demoralised millions of workers.
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The 35-hour week came into effect in 1997, as the Socialists' big idea for reducing unemployment. Unemployment fell until 2000, while the economy boomed, but has since risen again, to just under 10 per cent.
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M Sarkozy was appointed finance minister last month, following the heavy defeat inflicted on President Chirac's ruling Union pour un Mouvement Populaire in regional elections.
Poll confirms Sarkozy is poised to succeed Chirac
-----------------------------------Nicolas Sarkozy's status as the leading contender to succeed Jacques Chirac in France's 2007 presidential elections was confirmed yesterday as a poll found that 89% of the French recognised him as "ambitious", 79% considered him "courageous" and 72% judged him "efficient".
Chirac hints at changes to France's 35-hour workweek
We better not have a bunch of bloody protestors mucking up the TdF!French President Jacques Chirac gave his backing Monday for moves to water down the country's 35-hour workweek, setting the stage for a showdown with France's powerful trade unions.
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Chirac's comments came amid growing pressure for change from his own outspoken finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as from industry leaders such as Edouard Michelin, head of French tire giant Michelin Group.
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His comments found favor with French employers, the conservatives' most powerful allies. In a speech Sunday, Michelin CEO Edouard Michelin said the 35-hour law contributed to a "labor cost deterrent" that scares investors away from France.
"In 59th place worldwide for the average number of hours worked annually, France is can be neither proud nor competitive," Michelin said.