France in the doldrums

A story on the BBC news site today served to confirm some thoughts that both my wife and I have had for a while now. France seems to be slipping down into abject misery and a general feeling of malaise.

I will qualify what I say by declaring that I am very much a fan of France. I've lived her for sixteen out of the last twenty years. I speak the language fairly well for a "rosbif" and I see France as a safe and secure place for my children to live. A requirement that is close to my heart as I have more children than most people.

Recently however I have begun to notice that France ain't what it used to be. Cities are beset by beggars, both from France and other countries. I know of whole clans of girls who run a lucrative begging business out of St Denis in northern Paris. They leap on the train full of beans, laughing and giggling in the morning and by the time they reach the city they get off the train as limping shambling wrecks with doleful eyes and ever outstretched palms. They often take children with them who sit motionless all day long like people in a persistent vegetitive state, the really good ones drool a bit and allow flies to settle on their cheeks without flinching.

Not only has the underbelly of French society begun to suffer but the business world has too. As a consultant engineer I used to get abundant work and a good salary in France. Recently however, government edicts regarding working practices has all but killed off the consulting business and punitive social charges in the form of "forfaits" or fees-one-must-pay regardless of actual profit serve to prevent the ordinary person from forming their own companies. Examples of this include a requirement for a company director to pay a minimum social security charge, regardless of whether they draw a salary or whether the company shows a profit. This can mean make or break for small companies in the first few years. Schemes to "encourage" small businesses such as the "auto-entrepreneur" or one-man-show type business actually find the businessman charged a fixed percentage of turnover. This means that the company is forced to charge high prices in order to pay the social charges and then the business is less competitive. It also means that a company that doesn't make considerably more than the 12% charged is automatically in deficit and killed off by losses that have to be paid by the aspiring business man. A loophole often used is to start a business using grants, make sure it fails and then have a relative "take over" the failing business a year or two later, getting a grant for the takeover in order to revive the failing business. This obviously puts more pressure on the social system and the cycle continues.

The very worst aspect of France is the paperwork and officialdom. Both individuals and companies are forced to make multiple declarations of essentially the same data. The burden of paperwork requires vast numbers of "fonctionnaires" or civil servants who do nothing to reduce the burden because it keeps them in cushy lifetime jobs.They produce nothing and are a drain on society which keeps the costs up and social charges artificially higher.

I love France. I find it sad to be having the same thoughts about it that I had about the UK in the 1990's. It needs a clean sweep to get rid of useless burdensome paperwork, reduce the load paid by society on people who produce nothing. They must increase computerisation and unify data so that endless "declarations" go away and information from employers and individuals suffice to provide all that is required.