PARIS: The French economy is on the move after the dramas of the financial crisis but President Nicolas Sarkozy, down in the polls, is putting a brave face on his record of reform. Industrialists say they are feeling good, the best for 10 years, but the feel-good factor has not fed through to voters. Sarkozy made three main promises, to modernize the country, curb budget deficits and the debt, and to increase jobs and wage packets for the people. Reforms have been made, but the hole in public finances is deeper and people are feeling the pinch of the crisis and now rising prices. His long-serving Prime Minister Francois Fillon admitted as much at a morale boosting session of the main governing right-wing UMP party this past week, held with one year to go before a presidential election in which Sarkozy is expected to stand again. They had governed “with honesty and courage to modernize France,” but “we've had setbacks,” he acknowledged, referring to jobs and living standards. A recent poll said just 17 percent of voters think Sarkozy's record is “rather positive.” Sarkozy had intended that the initial discomfort of some of the reforms such as a sharp tightening of pension arrangements would be offset by another key measure, a switch away from the effects of the previous Socialist administration's reduction of the working week to 35 hours. He promised that overtime would be relieved of charges, and that the overall reforms would boost the economy and job market. That was before the financial crisis, economic downturn in advanced economies and a big rise in state spending to cushion the economy. Fillon regretted the gap between the reality of the reforms and the “feelings of the French”. Some leading indicators do point to a strong underlying pick-up in parts of the economy. – Agence France
