France in Despair

...We cannot let them down," he pleaded...

...The geraniums are indeed blooming, but morale is low and consumption, after a brief upturn in February, is stagnating...

...Crusty old Gaullists muttered that he was betraying le General...

...Assisting employers through tax incentives and exemptions from Social Security contributions for new workers has only pushed the system deeper into debt without significantly diminishing unemployment, currently hovering around 12 per cent...

...But the revenue growth he anticipated simply has not materialized...

...70 per cent are convinced "things are getting worse...

...By last fall, Chirac and his Prime Minister, Alain Juppe, already were trying to reassure the populace that there was no reason for despair...

...Those who are close to National Assembly President Philippe Seguin advocate big public-works schemes a la the New Deal...

...The greater autonomy granted the state-run railways in June may help too...

...After raising their expectations...

...Some members of the Center-Right majority wonder whether Juppe has his tax-and-cut priorities straight...

...One particularly revealing finding is that the average young couple dreams of having three children but feels it cannot afford to, given current conditions...

...Instead, like the Verdun ceremony, the plan has been overshadowed by grim headline-grabbing stories...

...is the best way to gradually equip the European Union with a credible defense structure...

...It has also agreed to exchange information with the United Sates on simulated nuclear tests...

...Polls show a solid 50-60 per cent of the people think the government is performing poorly...

...In mid-November the Prime Minister had announced reforms that essentially stepped up Social Security taxes and projected a '96 deficit of $3.2 billion...

...If not, he will be dismissed as just another cynical politician, which will be bad for everyone...

...Eager to dissipate the grayness of Francois Mitterrand's last years, the electorate bought into this promise...

...Restoring people's confidence not only in themselves but in democracy has become Chirac's big challenge...

...Soon after taking office, perhaps to emphasize his Gaullist fiber before departing from France's go-it-alone military and political tradition, Chirac carried out a series of controversial nuclear tests in the South Pacific...

...Your great-great-grandfathers fought here...

...In an effort to share his vision of a more united Europe with the younger generation, Chirac gathered 3,000 French and German teenagers at Verdun to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bloodbath that left more than 300,000 dead on that World War I battlefield...

...Despite all his friends in the powerful pharmaceutical and medical lobbies (or maybe because of them), Chirac has been unable to lower drug prices and doctors' fees...

...Gas prices and the value-added tax on goods and services have risen in the past year...

...Others, close to Juppe's predecessor, Edouard Balladur, suggest giving consumer spending a shot in the arm by cutting taxes and shrinking the overall budget deficit...

...It is dawning on the country, for example, that with 120,000-200,000 people who are HIV-positive, France has one of the highest aids rates in the West...

...Though the disease itself can't be blamed on the authorities, its reaching such proportions is another reminder that the health care system—one of the most expensive and extensive in the world—is not fulfilling its promise...

...The professional military will have to be expanded to maintain a desired post-downsizing strength of 350,000...

...If he succeeds, he may yet be a great president...

...In fact, male conscription has done nothing of the sort either...

...While this is intended to help small retailers, it will probably hurt the consumer...

...The question is where to trim public expenses...

...The intention is to revamp the Armed Forces in a manner that will make it possible for France to rapidly deploy 50,000-odd troops anywhere in the world—or a contingent five times larger than the one the French were able to send to the Persian Gulf in 1991...

...Within a few weeks, though, France was paralyzed by public sector and student strikes, the largest outbreak of social unrest since 1968...

...Most people cynically take this to mean that others will pay more, not that anyone will pay less...

...Recent privatizations of state-owned firms—telecommunications, airlines, insurance companies, and the auto manufacturer Renault—may help (though not all of them were unprofitable...

...Juppe has lately begun attacking the "overweight" public sector again...

...As one observer put it, Chirac understands that cooperating with the U.S...

...Moreover, the public sector has long afforded children from families of modest means—like Juppe— an opportunity to climb up the social ladder...

...But last December France resumed the seat on nato's military committee it had vacated in 1966 and allowed its Defense Minister, Charles Millon, to take part in NATO meetings...

...The Prime Minister vows Social Security taxes will not be increased further, and he even says he is looking into ways of cutting income taxes over the next five years...

...MORE CONSEQUENTIAL Was Chirac's decision to phase out the military draft over the next six years and replace it with a voluntary civilian service program foryoung men and women...

...Here as elsewhere, the reduced workforce and a longer life expectancy have placed a burden on the active population...

...For at least nine months now, France has been nursing a persistent mat de vivre...

...Not surprisingly, consumer spending has been lackluster because the increases have resulted in real earnings declining by as much as 5 percent...

...And what worries parents most of all today is their children's prospects...

...wants to "reform" certain tax rates that hit tenants in subsidized housing disproportionately...

...On the contrary, they have actually gone up...

...In March, Juppe confidently proclaimed that "spring" was just around the corner—meaning the recession was almost over...

...The government is also proposing taxes on large stores selling gasoline from drive-through stations...

...Those with the right family connections often wriggle out of serving, and those with the right diplomas—doctors, teachers, engineers, etc.—are assigned to tasks that are valuable assets when looking for a first job...

...Little has been done, however, to hold down the health care costs that are by far the biggest reason for the burgeoning deficits...

...At the same time, his government JANICE VALLS-RUSSELL writes about French and Spanish affairs for the NL...

...The consequent strikes attracted widespread moral support from workers in the private sector: Many expressed fears that worsening working conditions and a drop in teachers' and postal workers' salaries would inevitably lead to a deterioration of their own situation...

...Conscripts at present make up about half the country's 500,000-strong Armed Forces...

...That kind of demagoguery goes over well with small shopkeepers, but attempts to make the fonctionnaires appear privileged backfired last fall...

...He appealed to them to do their utmost to ensure that the European Union is a region of lasting peace, prosperity and justice...

...The French are starting to believe their leaders care more about satisfying various lobbies or their own short-term interests than about the public welfare—regardless of what they say during election campaigns...

...The best he could muster was a pledge to create additional job-oriented courses, a reorganization of student grants, and a semester of general studies for freshmen before they have to decide on their area of concentration...

...Moderate success at getting the country's long-term jobless back to work has come at the expense of 18-to-30-year-olds, whose unemployment rate has soared to 28 per cent...

...A number of Socialists joined in opposing the decision...

...Students complain that their diplomas are in effect tickets for the dole queue...

...They argued that France's sole remaining melting pot was being done away with—and thereby indirectly conceded that the schools no longer carry out this mission...

...Education Minister Francois Bayrou had little to offer them when he unveiled new measures for France's overcrowded campuses...

...Yet ultimately the savings realized from these moves are unlikely to make a serious dent in the $50 billion spent annually on debt maintenance—a sum roughly the size of the education budget...

...neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac conjured up a sunny image of the future...

...Another of Juppe's optimistic predictions proved premature when the Social Security Accounts Commission released its 1996 deficit forecast in June: $9.3 billion for the system (which encompasses health, welfare and pension programs...

...His decision to do away with conscription has been politely received by public opinion, itself a sign of the times: A decade ago it would have been hailed with enthusiasm...

...The fantasy did not even last the summer...