France
Reports on France See all →
France’s bureaucratic challenge
France is the poster child for rule by the bureaucracy. It has become so powerful and entrenched, that even attempts to rein it in have ended up enlarging it and giving it more power. Now, the Covid-19 crisis has revealed some major faults, offering an opportunity for serious readjustment. But the nature of French bureaucracy is such that reform will prove extremely difficult. If change does not come, France’s economy and democracy could suffer.
GIS Dossier: Mission impossible, or reforming France
France used to be one of the European Union’s “twin engines” along with Germany. These days, this once-proud civilization is considered more of a problem than a solution for the European project. Its economy is ailing under excessive government spending and overregulation, its enterprises are stifled by a rigid system ...
France, Europe and the apocalypse
The possible victory of Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France’s elections is likely to bring catastrophic disruption to that country and the European Union, but her mainstream opponents are either politically damaged goods or offering equally disastrous, statist solutions.
Hollande floats Nordic-inspired model as remedy for France’s broken labour code
Unemployment in France is at a record high. Despite the creation of almost half a million subsidised jobs, the ranks of the jobless have swelled by about 1.2 million in the three years since President Francois Hollande’s election, to 6.4 million. For some time now the French public has been ...
Europe could face another refugee crisis from Egypt
Political upheaval and violence in Egypt could lead to a wave of refugees fleeing the country to find peace and stability. European countries signed up to the Schengen agreement – which allows the free movement of people across the borders of 26 states – are just 500 kilometres of water ...
