France's borderless election
Candidates in the tight French presidential race, eager to find any edge they can, are wooing all-important expatriate voters in other European cities.
from the April 18, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
More important is the reason for the great escape. Most of those at the London rally were in their 20s and 30s. French newspapers are lamenting "la fuite des jeunes" or the exodus of the young, who are rejecting jobless stagnation and an atmosphere that discourages entrepreneurship in France and heading for more vibrant scenery in London, New York, or Shanghai. In France, unemployment among those under 25 hovers around 20 percent. Laws against firing older employees mean that the young find permanent jobs hard to find. The exodus demands an important question of the candidates: What would they do to transform the ponderous French economy to give young people greater prospects and perhaps encourage some to come back?
Dominique Maximin has no intention of going back just yet. The business consultant, 32, says he can't see any of the candidates tackling the institutional torpor. When he moved to London almost three years ago, his wife, Mireille, was concerned that she might struggle getting a job. Within weeks, she found one at a major bank. "I can't see how France will change because I don't see how someone will be able to change the labor laws," says Mr. Maximin. "There are limitations on firing people that they should scrap. Because here [in London], if I'm not doing good, I will lose my job more easily than in France, but I will find a job more quickly."
Mr. Sarkozy, the center-right candidate, is generally considered the most likely to institute the kind of reform that might revive France's labor market. He has already conducted a campaign rally in London, and last week sent expatriates an e-mail promising to create a country they might like to return to. "To all those who have left our country because they felt that nothing more could be done, I want to make you want to return," says the e-mail, a copy of which was seen by the Monitor. "To all those who want to create, innovate, work as they wish and had to leave [France] to do that, I say that everything will become possible again in France."
Like setting up a business. Clemence Doyard, who came to London two years ago, is planning to start a company promoting French food. "I would never have dared set up a business in Paris," she says. "It isn't in the spirit of French people. It might not be the case, but it seems more risky to do it in France than in the UK. In the UK, everyone says that it's possible."
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