France as seen from Europe
Whether it is the football World Cup, the Olympic Games, or rugby’s European Nations Cup, major sporting events remind us what sport and politics, physical performance and economic results and, ultimately, all forms of human competition have in common. It is when we compare ourselves with others that we can assess where we stand ourselves and, after a few years, a country or a team can go from gold medal position to a wooden spoon.
Our leaders do not like us to mention the failings of French society. ‘Declinism’ is said to be defeatism in new clothes. But what would we have said about a football coach who, just after France were humiliatingly knocked out of the 2002 World Cup, had declared that France were still the best team in the world? We must look at things clearly and objectively, and not deny the obvious facts, if we are to get back to the top.
It can be helpful to look at the perspectives of others. One of Europe’s greatest and most underrated virtues is that it offers us a permanent mirror and common points of reference which allow us to compare ourselves with one another. Each country is encouraged to improve in order to remain in the leading group or to return there.
So how does France look today, as seen from Brussels and the other European capitals? A country that underestimates its economic and political potential, that overestimates its social achievements, and that is afraid of the modern world.
The French do not know it, but no other European country – not even the United Kingdom or Germany – has as many leading multinationals, at European or even at global level, in their respective lines of business. In aeronautics (EADS, Dassault, Safran), oil (Total), electricity (EDF), nuclear energy (Areva), steel (Arcélor-Mittal), building materials (Saint-Gobain), cement (Lafarge), public works (Vinci, Bouygues), defence electronics (Thalès), pharmaceuticals (Sanofi-Aventis), foodstuffs (Danone, Pernod-Ricard), cosmetics (L’Oréal), advertising (Publicis), chemicals (Air Liquide), hotels (Accor), mass marketing (Carrefour, Auchan, Leclerc), air transport (Air France), water and purification services (Suez, Véolia), insurance (Axa) and banking, the French ‘champions’ are there, and are feared throughout the world.
Renault is a textbook case of a French company’s capacity to take advantage of globalisation. Twenty years ago, it was a public company with its sights set solely on France and it was building up deficits. At the time, voices were raised against opening up the European market to the ‘unfair’ competition of the Japanese. Courage and good sense prevailed and the European market gradually opened up. The State opened up Renault’s capital in order to facilitate alliances. Firm-handed leaders in the form of Raymond Lévy and then Louis Schweitzer overhauled the company’s management. Fifteen years later, Renault ‘swallowed up’ the Japanese Nissan, and now the world’s leading automotive manufacturer, General Motors, is calling for the help of the new group, led by Carlos Ghosn.
In the same way, the French underestimate their country’s political potential in Europe. From the very first Treaty establishing the Coal and Steel Community in 1951 to the draft Constitution, via the single market, monetary union, Eurocorps, etc., all the advances made by Europe have had French, and later Franco-German, origins. That is why our partners cannot understand how today the French are afraid of globalisation, to which their companies adapt so well, and of progress in Europe, of which they remain the main instigators.
On the other hand, they find the achievements of our ‘social model’ much less impressive. Seen from outside, France seeks not so much to offer jobs to the unemployed as to give them a status. The riots in the suburbs have highlighted the failings of the Republican integration model, whilst the permanent state of social conflict (strikes, demonstrations), which has resulted in a lack of movement by the politicians, is in stark contrast to the constructive dialogue which has allowed public services and the welfare state to be modernised as necessary elsewhere. As far as social inequalities are concerned, European comparisons place us towards the bottom of the table, even behind some of our new partners in central Europe.
Comparisons like this can help us to regain confidence in what we are able to achieve and to find the way back to success. After all, all our partners have at some time or other found themselves in a crisis situation similar to ours. Each one has found a way forward, in some cases liberal, in some cases social, but always based on consensus between the main political and social forces. In fifteen years Denmark has reduced its youth unemployment rate from 25% (France’s current level) to a mere 3%. Finland, whose entire economy was geared to the Soviet Union, has switched fully to new technologies and built an education system that is now regarded as the best in the world. When Ireland joined the European Union it was the poorest country in Europe. It has recently passed France in terms of income per inhabitant. With the same population as France, the United Kingdom has 4 million more people in work – mainly women and senior citizens. This is not to mention the dynamism of our Spanish neighbours, whose unemployment rate is now lower than France’s, whereas ten years ago it was twice as high as ours.
These examples show that, as in sport, nothing is ever set in stone and nothing is irreversible. There are as many models as teams, or countries. But there are a few common basic principles: look reality in the face; have the desire to win and to win together; forget old formulas and dogmatic prejudices in favour of the winning methods of today’s world. In this game the French can, if they really want to, once again become unbeatable.
Alain Lamassoure, 13 July 2006.