France fails again the exams. Kindly requested to sit in on Commission’s class

France gets once more under the microscope. Apparently the second biggest economy of Europe is il for the past couple of years in trouble. Given its enormous political power historically in Brussels L’Exagone was getting away with it for quite some time but it seems that now the time has come for drastic medication. The Macron Bill In a nation were the word strike and protest were invented French citizens are always eager to fight for their rights and most of all reluctant to change their status quo. There are ample examples of that in Paris’ daily routine, one of which took place last Wednesday at the French capital. It was the day that Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France, announced the “projet de loi pour la croissance et l’activite”. Mr Valls presented the harsh economic reforms to come in the member state that just met its record unemployment level of 10.4%. The Macron bill “Law on Growth and Activity” contains paragraphs like making firing personnel easier for the French employer, opening shops on Sundays and releasing the so called ‘closed professions’ like notaries and bailiffs. All this, according to Mr Emmanuel Macron, French Minister of Economy, will bring France back to sustainability and growth. To be noted here that he country’s exports fell by 13 percent over the past five years while public debt is estimated to reach 100 percent of the French GDP during the leap 2016. After long protests and press sensationalism in the ‘birthplace of croissant’, just one days later, yesterday, someone at the Commission decided to hit the ‘publish button’ of a report on France. The 34 page report came from the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP) of the European Commission and is stressing France’s underperformance towards the macroeconomic targets set. The timing of the report is not at all accidental as the Commission had to justify the timing of the Macron bill but also send a clear message that if this bill fails then perhaps even a “troika like” mechanism could take over. No time for pampering Let’s go back to the Commission’s report now and read some major proofs that Europe’s second leg is shaky. The main ‘problem’ of the Commission with France is, apart from the staggering economy figures that deteriorate, the fact that reforms are not taken or implemented properly. In short, the French situation is bad, it is expected to get worse and on top of that proper medication is not taken. The scope of the report is to maintain the ‘French patient’ in life and show her how to recover. All in all, it is well understood in Brussels that France is a special case. One can sense that from the ‘politeness’ the French matter is being handled. It is nothing to compare with Brussels’ harsh behaviour against the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain). The political power of the Exagone is evident as it is also evident that the French economy is the second pillar of the European Economy. There is not time for pampering though now. The French problem needs to be solved asap otherwise we will soon fall into another European crisis, this time a much deeper one. Europe needs to support strongly and discretely at the same time while Mr Valls and his team need to implement and make the French citizen understand the value of the dear cost to take. This is the only way to keep the carnivore markets out of France that otherwise would be a sitting duck for them. The example of Greece and the rest of the duck company is there and it still hurts. The ‘French Report’ Nevertheless, this crucial report of the European Commission has received too small attention by the media as regards its details. We place here some excerpts for the reader of the Sting to be well informed about how supportive is Europe towards France. The major findings of the ‘French report‘ are the following: – France’s economy has been stagnating for the last three years, with a quarterly GDP growth of 0.1% on average between mid-2011 and mid-2014. – According to the Commission’s 2014 Autumn Forecast, France’s economic growth is projected to remain low in 2014 and 2015 at 0.3% and 0.7% respectively, – France’s recent price developments reflect external factors but also weak aggregate demand.