Villepin the Iron man of France?

Sand

De Villepin to resign?

Hope so, he got screwed over by his boss and he knows it. I imagine Nicolas Sarkozy is hugging himself with joy.

Mike.

He may be crying shortly thereafter. Even if he wins power in France he still loses, dealing with that mess. If something as mild as the CPE brought about Villepins demise then what hope does Sarkozy have? Hes running on "fixing" France, but given the hysterical reaction and opportunistic sniping, any politician that tries to solve the problems will end up like Villepin.

I feel sorry for Villepin, and I never liked him. He had the nerves for the job, but maybe not the allies. They needed to support him in fighting the self interested students/unions and they screwed him.

mike65

I figure a backlash effect will help Sarkozy, after all the unemployment issue will be 'live' on at the next election, he can note how he said the Villepin laws would'nt work (which he did, however oppotunisticly) and propose something else as the French wake up to the realisation that something still has to be done.

He might just get a fre run if he plays his cards right (no pun intended).

Mike.

ambro25

mike65 wrote:

I figure a backlash effect will help Sarkozy, after all the unemployment issue will be 'live' on at the next election

When hasn't it been "the", or at least a very prominent, issue, for the last 15 years at least?

mike65 wrote:

he can note how he said the Villepin laws would'nt work (which he did, however oppotunisticly) and propose something else as the French wake up to the realisation that something still has to be done.

But, importantly, he has not proposed anything else yet. This tells me two things, or rather confirms one and suggests another: (i) he is one of the worst serial -opportunists in FR politics (nothing new here) and (ii) accordingly, the 'something else' will most likely be devised according to opinion/popularity polls, thus amounting to nothing more than what current and previous GVTs have amounted to: much gesticulation, talking the talk and err... that's it.

mike65 wrote:

He might just get a free run if he plays his cards right (no pun intended).

I'm hearing some rather different things from people on the ground. There's a certain female "presidentiable" candidate, Ségolène Royal, who's gaining and gaining and... much to the politicians' sorrow. She's getting the good press, ya see - now, provided she's not got too many skeletons in her cupboard, she'll be giving old Sarko' a run for his money... hopefully.

I'll admit to be biased (who isn't, where politics are concerned?): I have never trusted that man, for some reason (not that I've ever trusted the others, mind, but it's just 'worse' in his case, somehow). I've always felt something 'Vichy-esque' about him.

Calina

Yeah...I think it'll be interesting to see how Ségolène Royal plays it out...she seems to be playing her cards very well at the moment. From a European point of view it might be interesting also to see how having both Germany and France led by women would pan out.

One of the interesting things about this CPE story is it clearly identifies how....uhem...unaware we in Ireland tend to be about politics in other European countries (although our knowledge of the US political scene is a lot more...in depth). The CPE was only one paragraph in a labour law which has not otherwise been scrapped but I doubt too many people here know that.

Re opinion poll driven politics - they have that (sort of) in the UK. Apparently it works for them.

ambro25

Calina wrote:

Re opinion poll driven politics - they have that (sort of) in the UK. Apparently it works for them.

I don't think it's so much a question of 'it works for them' than 'it only works because Brits don't particularly care, truth be told'. And don't forget that the only valid 'opinion poll' that should matter, where a democratic GVT's policies are concerned, is votes in elections. How representative is -say- 1,000 polled opinions of 4 million-inhabitants, never mind 60 millions?

Don't forget that, save for any policy that directly affects Brits' pockets (wherein any and all measures are always reported by the media in terms of "how many pennies that would take out of their every take-home £1"), Brits are very largely left to their own devices insofar as national and local GVTs are concerned. That is, "left to their own devices" in comparison to the level of scrutiny imposed upon every French person by the national, regional and departmental GVT & associated Civil Service.

By way of example, take 'nixing' - absolutely condoned by UK GVT, so long as you pay your dues (NI stamps and whatnot) from your main job, the thinking being that individual entrepreneurship encourages economic growth and people are more likely to "give it a go" whilst still being employed and having this security cushion, BUT absolutely vilified by FR GVT (not that 'nixing' doesn't exist in FR - there are entire regions of FR whose economy relies entirely on undeclared work and earnings), because God Forbid they don't get absolutely every last pound of flesh that the Code des Impôts (at least a dozen inches thick) allows them to take.

Another -personal- example in FR: tailoring of taxation by knee-jerk politics.
(i) You're FR landlord and live in FR yourself - taxation is per std income thresholds (i.e. -say- no tax on first €5000, then 10 % on next €5000, then 20 % on next €... etc.).
(ii) You're FR landlord and live overseas - taxation is 25% minimum on the first pence earned. "Naughty boy, that'll teach you to emigrate and seek your fortune elsewhere".

The reason behind (ii)? The media clamouring about the "brain drain" (educated people emigrating for work) some years back, for about 2 months. Nothing more of that heard since (or at least not the extent that it was then) - but the policies remain :mad:

Pazaz 21

Calina wrote:

The CPE was only one paragraph in a labour law which has not otherwise been scrapped but I doubt too many people here know that.

What are the other provisons of the Law? Didn't hear anything about that ?

mike65

How representative is -say- 1,000 polled opinions of 4 million-inhabitants, never mind 60 millions?

Its perfectly accurate (to within a 3% margin of error!). Every staticain will tell you.

Mike.

lili

ségolène royal claimed yesturday her canditature for the presidential elections.
we gonna have a trivial elections...

ambro25

lili wrote:

we gonna have a trivial elections...

- What do you mean?

@ Mike65 - for sure, but where policies and GVT are concerned, 'every statistician will tell you after being briefed by the Powers that Be' (that one's from factual experience: there's hard data from Civil Service intelligence and coal-face data collection,and then there's official statistics released to the press - and they don't necessarily match up to one another, depending where the breeze is coming from )

lili

ambro25 wrote:

- What do you mean?

je veux dire que les éléphants du PS vont avoir du fil à retordre. c'est assez clair ou veux-tu plus de précisions?:)

The Corinthian

Mi sa tanto che siamo arrivati alla fine del discorso.

lili

The Corinthian wrote:

Mi sa tanto che siamo arrivati alla fine del discorso.

you think so?:D
ambro will answer:)

Pazaz 21

They have backed down on the Smoking ban now FFS!!! Where will it end ??:eek: