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| Europe |
| Job Opportunity For John Kerry |
| 2004-03-30 |
| The glove fits: Chirac Retains Unpopular Prime Minister Stung by a sharp public rebuke in Sunday’s regional elections, President Jacques Chirac decided Tuesday to retain his unpopular prime minister, but ordered him to form a new government that will be unveiled on Wednesday. Meet the new gov, same as the old gov... The prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Just what France needs, more socialism! The results were seen as a widespread public backlash against the Raffarin government’s ambitious reform agenda, aimed at making the French economy more efficient by reining in a soaring public deficit. So far, a pension reform element of that package, passed last year, will force most public sector employees to work more years before they can retire with their full pensions. The next phase will attempt to contain spiraling public health and education costs, by having patients pay more for some benefits, and forcing students to pay more for a part of their education expenses. Why not throw in the 30 hour work week, slackers? These reforms have sparked a series of disruptive strikes and street demonstrations, from health care workers, teachers, firefighters, government-funded researchers and even part-time performers protesting proposed cuts in their unemployment benefits. And that’s different, in what way? Socialist leaders immediately criticized Chirac’s decision to retain Raffarin, and said Sunday’s election results clearly indicate the reform agenda needs to be curtailed, and more emphasis placed on creating Always nice to have a scapegoat handy. "They have to pursue reforms, and maybe the only way to do so is to keep Raffarin, because he is dead already," said Dominique Moisi, a political commentator. "Raffarin is the last protection of Chirac -- he wants to keep him at least until the European elections, which he knows he will lose." Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of Moisi and others said the election result Sunday shows the difficulty facing many Western democracies as they attempt often painful structural reforms that will in most cases curtail benefits that their populations have come to see as a birthright. "It goes beyond France," Moisi said. "It’s really a problem of democracy these days." No, you’re burying your head in the sand by electing Socialists who aren’t interested in any level of reform. And no, democracy is not the problem. It’s the size and scope of the modern European welfare state that’s the central issue here. While the final outlines of the new cabinet are still be decided, two informed sources said Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy will be moved to the powerful Finance Ministry, where he will have to tackle high unemployment and push through economic reforms, while the foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, will move to Interior to handle the fight against terrorism and rising crime. Merely rearraging the deck chairs on the Titantic, methinks... Sarkozy, France’s most popular politician, is considered the most probable next prime minister. The jobs of Education Minister Luc Ferry and Health minister Jean-Francois Mattei are considered to be in peril. Mattei, specifically, was widely blamed for the government’s failure to act quickly enough to a devastating heat wave last August during which thousands of mostly elderly people died in their apartments, in hospitals and in nursing homes without air conditioning. "It’s like a heat waaaave, burning in my heart..." (*booking my one-way ticket to Hell as we speak...*) |
| Posted by:Raj |
| #5 |
| Posted by: Kentucky Beef 2004-03-31 1:32:59 AM |
| #4 |
| Posted by: .com 2004-03-30 11:40:44 PM |
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| Posted by: .com 2004-03-30 11:19:40 PM |
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| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-03-30 11:11:31 PM |
| #1 |
| Posted by: .com 2004-03-30 10:46:11 PM |