French issues (#1)
 Economic and social issues   What are the French good at?

Some basic facts about recent immigration

  • France has always been a country of immigration. The most recent waves are the Poles and the Italians before WW2, the Spaniards and Portuguese in the 1950s-1960s, the North-Africans in the 1960s, the Asians in the 1970s and the West-Africans in the 1970s-1980s. (see figures). In 1999, 23% of French citizens had at least one parent or grandparent who had been an immigrant to France (source : INED).
  • Conversely, the French have never emigrated in large numbers, except for the Huguenots at the end of the XVIIth century.
  • In the 1960s, in a booming economy, French manufacturers (for example in the car industry) were in desperate need of a work-force : they attracted hundreds of thousands of Moroccans and Algerians who stayed in France and were the first to be laid-off in the 1980s when the economy slowed down. This created major social and psychological problems for their children and, now, their grandchildren.
  • In West-Africa, villages would traditionally send their most courageous young men to France to work hard ; they would in turn send most of their salary to their family and come back to their village after having lived twenty years in France. Later, and especially with the Left Wing in power in the 1980s, there was a big movement of compassion for these poor men, living alone for years, far from their children and a policy of "Regroupement Familial" (family regrouping) was set up (law of 29/4/1976) under the principle that " it is a right for each person to have a normal family life". This policy has dramatically changed the immigration pattern : women came from their village with no experience of European life and little capacity to adjust, polygamy is becoming a major issue with some countries (Mali), and (according to French law) all children born in France are automatically French citizens. In 2004, out of 173,390 new resident cards to non-European, 110,619 were related to "regroupement familial".
  • In 1962, at the end of the Algerian war of Independence, the French transfered to France as many Algerian soldiers of the French Army, the "harkis" with their family, as they could (most of those who remained there were slaughtered). Their life and the life of their children is as difficult as the life of all other immigrants who, in addition to that, look down at them as traitors.
  • Many students from Western-Africa traditionally choose to go to University in France (even if American universities are catching up : see figures). Most of them stay in France.
  • Illegal immigrants (mostly from Western-Africa) keep pouring into Europe, mostly through Spain and Italy. The total number is of course unknown but could be as high as one million a year; many of them have very difficult conditions of life. France, like all the other European countries, is trying to control the flow and to expell some of them, to dissuade more to come, but in vain. It is particularly difficult and painful because, by law, it is not required to be legal to have acccss to the education and health systems. Therefore, many kids in school are under the threat of being expelled to a country they don't know : their parents's.
  • Read about the history of the French colonial empire.
 

What's good in France, what is successful, etc. i.e. is there anything good Americans can learn from the French ? For most Americans and for the entire US press, the answer is probably very conventional : apart from food, fashion and the art of not working, the answer is likely to be " Not much ". Let's try to look at facts : I see four fields where France does well, possibly better than the USA! Before you get upset and click out of this site, read what follows !

  • Health policy : by all standards the French health system compares very favorably to the US system (even after Obama's 2010 reform). It is based on a moral and political consensus that protecting the health of citizens, and keeping them from what can be avoided in the trauma of illness and death, is one of the major responsibilities of the Society as a whole. Therefore, the State ensures that everybody is protected and people consider it to be in charge of controlling the quality of the health system and of regulating all its private and public players, including corporations which must contribute equally to it. The results : 100% people covered (see CMU), for a cost 30 or 40% inferior to America's (11,8% of GNP vs. more than 17,4% in the US) and with better results (see comparative ratios and more ratios : life expectancy, infantile mortality, obesity, etc). The French are astonished when they are told that more than 40 million Americans have no health coverage (and even more no dental coverage). Being worried about the health bill does not exist in France. The social consensus is : "it is sad enough to be sick and one must not have an additional money problem about it". Saying "it is socialized medecine, therefore bureaucratic and inefficient" is ridicululous and wrong : look at the facts! See the WHO ranking : France comes first and read a column in the IHT ("French Lesson"), read my (chauvinistic) point of view about it and my column "socialized medicine : give me a break"..
  • Food culture : not the food itself (which is not bad....) but the relationship with food. In France, food is fun and food is interesting : food is not something you ingest when you are hungry. Basically : the French have structured meals where they enjoy the food and talk together, they do NOT eat between meals, eat more vegetables, less fast-food and do not drink too much soft drinks, etc... The result : much less heart disease and diabetes, much less over-weight people and more pleasure! Read about "the ugly American eater" and more about food.
  • Energy policy : France is the country which is the least dependent on the price of fossil fuel (gas and petrol), due to the very ambitious nuclear policy of the 1970s (see figures) ; electricity is cheap and France exports it to other European countries ; in addition to that, its energy-saving programs are efficient : cars use much less fuel (the average European car gets 40 miles to the gallon, far more energy-efficient than US cars), houses have better thermal insulation, etc... Why? Again the strong role of the State with a consistent policy, no petrol lobbies, etc.... Result : 2 to 3 times less energy per capita. The country is less vulnerable to energy prices and in the long term to a shortage in fossil energy. More about environment in France.
  • Thankfully, there are more and more examples of very successful second-generation immigrants : in politics (like Rachida Dati), in business (too many to cite), in the show-business (like Jamel Debbouze and many others) ; see singers, movie-makers and writers
  • The opinions about immigration in the USA and in Europe are not as different as one would expect (see a poll) but the European society seems surprisingly more open, and France is often far from the average European figure.
What were the reasons for the riots in November 2005 ?  (credit)

  • Basically an economic problem : unemployment is high in France (over 9%) and very high for the less qualified workers.
  • Racism : Black and Arab youngsters (the "beurs") from poor areas are the first victims of racism to find a job and, if they can afford it, to rent an apartment ; they have a life of constant frustration and humiliation. However (and contrary to what is considered a fact if you read only the US press), there are French racists, as in any country, but it is not true to say that France is a racist country. Read the section on anti-Semitism. Regarding immigration, all studies show that the French are more positive about immigrants than other major countries, including the U.S.A. : in a recent study, 32% of the French (vs. 67% of the British) think there are too many immigrants. See detailed figures.
  • A serious urban problem : In the 1960s, the French government developed huge public housing programs in the suburbs of most cities ; the architecture was ugly but it was an emergency with the arrival of many immigrants, including almost one million "Pieds-Noirs " (French people living in Algeria and expelled in 1962). Progressively all the people who could afford to live somewhere else have left and it led, forty years later, to large urban areas where everybody is poor, unemployment reaches 20% or more, buildings are poorly maintained and vandalized.
  • A cultural problem : the entire French vision is based on the idea that all French citizens must be equally treated. It is therefore unthinkable to design special provisions for the education of immigrants. The consequence is that, in many cases, and especially if their family does not speak French and does not value school, these students frequentlty drop out of the school system. The legal system being very strict on labor, "small jobs" do not exist and they are left with nothing to do.
  • Contrary to what the US press erroneously reported ("Muslim Riots in France"), there was never a religious aspect in the Nov. 2005 riots. They were social riots, and very serious ones. As compared to UK, French Muslims feel more French than British Muslims feel British : see identity figures.
  • See a list of strengths and weaknesses of France in 2005 and read a column about it.
 
  • Mathematics is probably another one of the (few) fields where France can challenge the USA. Math is the most important subject in French education (read more) : you cannot escape it and it is the key to be selected for the best cursus ; it is very hard  to do anything in the French higher education system if you are not good in math. In high school, the level is maybe one year ahead of the US system and much more theoretical (no calculus and if you use a theorem, you must definitely be able to demonstrate it) : look at a French textbook to see the difference in approach. The result : 
    - French research is very good in this field (see the world ranking in math of French universities and the number of Fields Medals)
    - After a tough selection, a few French students do well in certain fields (computer science, econometric models...)
    - This taste for math illustrates the French preference for general and theoretical ideas, as opposed to pragmatic, empiric and action-oriented ideas (more about French values)    .

 

  • There are a few other fields where French companies or the French society do well, but do not count on the US press to mention it ! See an example about fast trains (in France : TGV).
  • Anything else ? Read about the strengths and weaknesses of France and about some French specificities!

Psychological issues

  • These days, the national mood is not good in France and the French are very pessimistic, much more than the other Europeans (source : Eurobaromètre 2006/CAS, le Monde 28/10/2007):
    • worried and afraid of the future : to the question " Are you afraid of becoming poor ? " : more than 75% answer Yes when in most European countries the number is around 50% ; only Latvia and Hungary are as pessimistic ; even more surprisingly, to the question : " Are you afraid to become homeless ? " 13% answer Yes (Latvia 16% but UK 8% and most European countries are around 5%) ; young people are particularly afraid and only 25,6% consider their future as promising (one of the lowest % in advanced countries : see a comparative poll).
    • distrustful : " Do you trust other people most of the time ? " : France 22% (Sweden 64%, European average 30%)
    • they have no objective reason for their pessimism : whatever way you measure it, their social system (health, unemployment benefits) compares very favourably to the other countries', economic unequality between people is smaller than elsewhere and if income dispersion grows, it does so less than elsewhere, health conditions and life expectancy are excellent, etc.... Read more about what the French are good at and compare favourably to the US.
    • why such low spirits ? Several tentative answers :
      - the political life : based on constant criticism on one side and constant self-satisfaction on the other side, with no other solution than emphasizing whatever is negative. The media love bad news : newpaper headlines and TV news focus every day on what's wrong. Lay-offs, particularly, are detailed every day when positive news do not make good headlines (for instance, the 2007 Nobel Prize to a French physicist was hardly mentioned. The French like to grumble and protest more than any other people and it becomes contagious
DID YOU KNOW THAT.....? Burning cars is a very frequent form of "minor criminality" in French poor suburbs. In 2005, 45,288 were burned (+30% on 2004). About a third are stolen cars, another third insurance fraud attempts. For the last third, it is remarkable to observe that it is a particularly stupid crime since the perpetrators (typically, kids aged 10 to 12) burn the cars of their own parents who need them to go to work and can't afford to replace them.  
    • another French paradox : more and more French, less and less Germans ! Everybody knows that when a country is depressed, its demography is weak. Not for the French whose natality is the highest in Europe : it represents more than two third of the total European population increase (not including immigration, 2006 figures) : France +290,000, UK +155,000, Spain +90,000, Italy +25,000, Belgium +18,000, Hungary ­33,0000, Germany ­167,000, others near zero)
 Islam and France    More and more depressed ?

In August 2006, the Pew Research Center (Washington D.C.) published a very interesting comparative study on Muslims in four European countries (France, UK, Germany and Spain). The main results are :

  • France has the largest Muslim population (over 5 million), mostly of Algerian and Moroccan origin ; in Germany most Muslims come from Turkey, in England from Pakistan and in Spain from Morocco
  • The proportions of Muslims in European countries are much higher than in the USA : 8% in France, compared to 0,55% in the USA.
  • French Muslims express globally the same opinion as other European Muslims about :
    • fear of unemployment : 84% (vs. 78 to 83% in the three other countries)
    • concerns about their future : 38% (vs. 28 to 48%)
    • unfavorable rating of the U.S. : 69% (vs. 65 to 76%)
    • unfavorable rating of Americans : 51% (vs. 46 to 54%)
    • opposing US war on terror : 78% (vs. 62 to 83%)
    • sympathies for Palestinians : 76% (vs. 50 to 75%)
  • French Muslims differ strongly from other European Muslims about :
    • Favorable attitude toward Jews : 71% (vs. 32% in UK, 36% in Germany and 28% in Spain) ; for this question, the answer of the whole population of the country is 86% in France (vs. 77% in the USA and, not unexpectedly, 2% in Egypt, 17% in Indonesia, 6% in Pakistan, 1% in Jordan and 15% in Turkey. Anti-semitism in France is not what the US press says : read more about it.
    • Seeing themselves surrounded by hostile natives : 39% (vs. 51% in Germany, 42% in UK but 31% in Spain) but 37% report having had a bad personal experience (vs. 19 to 25%). They feel (relatively) welcome.
    • Fewer of them see a natural conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society : 42% consider themselves a national citizen first (and not a Muslim first) vs. only 7% in UK, 13% in Germany and 3% in Spain. In Muslim countries it ranges from 6% in Pakistan to 39% in Indonesia. It seems that Muslims living in France are indeed absorbing the secular ways of their countrymen, among which 83% self-identify with their nationality rather than their religion. Read more about " laïcité " (secularism). However, see a few examples of infringement on secularism in the name of Islam.
    • A larger majority want to adopt national customs (rather than being distinct) : 78% compared to 41% in UK, 30% in Germany and 53% in Spain. They agree with the French attitude against communautarism : read more about it.
    • As concluded by Pew : " All in all, one might conclude that, despite their problems ­prime among them joblessness among youth generally, not just Muslim youth- the French need to take no integrationist lessons from their European neighbors. "
  • More about religion in France
 
  • The mood of the French is not very good. Actually, the number of people who see the future with pessimism has been consistently larger than the number of optimists. TNS-Sofres has carried out the same poll since 1972 and I have designed a graph to represent it (source : Le Monde April 2008). It shows, globally, a negative tend with recently an improvement 1997-2002 (better economic situation), a collapse 2002-2007 (the second term of Chirac) and a (momentary) improvement in 2007 (the hope generated by Sarkozy).
     
  • When asked about the most frightening/reassuring words, the French answer (Dec.2008) :
    • most frightening : Bush (!), lay-offs, unemployment, etc... (and of course all the words associated with the current crisis)
    • most reassuring : Obama, Europe, euro, etc... (and globally all the words related to the role of the protective State)
    • see more details.
  • More about French attitudes and low spirits.
  • The French are said to be reluctant toward change : read why. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Integrating minorities : a French challenge

It is widely said that France failed the integration of its immigrated minorities. This is largely true and the 2005 urban riots proved it. A better integration of minorities is clearly a strong social demand and the country and its leaders (political, business, ) still have a long way to go to meet this demand. However, the situation is not as bad as it may appear (from the US press for instance) and there are reasons for hope of a positive evolution. Among many examples :

  • The government of Nicolas Sarkozy included several ministers from North-African or West-African origin, in high positions (Justice, Urban Affairs, Human Rights) and himself has a Hungarian father and a Greek-Jewish mother.
  • The constant French policy to avoid communautarism is illustrated by the law which forbids the Islamic veil in school in 2008 and the burqa in all public places in 2010 : nothing against regious freedom, it is a law for integration (note that in April 2010, the Belgian parliament passed a law prohibiting the burqa, without arousing indignation from the US press! : more about French-bashing and read my column about a ridiculous article in the NY Times.
  • more to come....
Presidential campaigns    

A few things about the presidential campaigns in France :

  • The rules : to run, you must be be supported by 500 elected officials (mostly mayors) ; the election is in two rounds and only the two who get the most votes in the first one can run in the second one (so that a President is always elected with more than 50% of the votes) ;
  • It is indeed a big issue : the President has a lot of power in the French constitution and the outcome of the elections is important for the future. Compared to the USA, the abstention rate is generally low (15% to 25%) : it was only 15% in 2007 and 19% in 2012.
  • There are many candidates (12 in 2007, 10 in 2012) but only two of them can win, and only two or three others do influence the result : all the other candidates only want to publicize their ideas (if any...). See the most recent poll.
  • The two possible winners represent the two largest political parties with the largest number of members (100,000 to 200,000 each) : Nicolas Sarkozy for the UMP (Right) in 2007 and 2012 and Ségolène Royal (2007) and François Hollande (2012) for the Socialist Party (Left) ; each one scored between 25% and 35% in the first round. This is a difference between France and other European countries : the two main political parties together represent barely half of the votes. However the choice between them is relatively clear : they have a different vision and both are able to govern the country. Their strategy is to gather their traditional voters around them for the first round to get the best possible score and to rally as much as they can in the second round along a Right/Left dividing line. In 2007, Sarkozy did a little better than he expected in the first round and was elected with more than 53% in the second round.
  • In 2012, Sarkozy's program included more law and order, better control of immigration, more incentive for entrepreneurship, improving relations with the USA, keeping taxes down in line with other European countries, etc ; Hollande's programs included more taxes on the wealthy (for the Socialist Party, being rich starts at 4,000 Euros a month....), « droit au logement » (everybody is entitled to a home provided by the State if he/she can't afford it), to name but a few.
  • Important candidates include Jean Marie Le Pen (2007) and his daughter Marine (2012) for the Front National (extreme right) that represents, to make things simple, the unhappy, the weak and the scared people (who are many...) and could score anywhere between 12% and 25% : in fact he scored only 10% (2007). A surprise could have come from François Bayrou for the UDF (center right) who represents Christian Democracy, which is strong everywhere in Europe but weak in France ; however it is growing and with 18%, he did well in 2007 but only 9% in 2012.
  • Other candidates included the greens (ecologists) with Dominique Voynet (2007) and Eva Joly (2012) for Les Verts, the Communist party (which does not know it is dead) with Marie-Georges Buffet (2007) and its new form La Gauche with Jean-Luc Melenchon who ran a very successful campaign in 2012, Lutte Ouvrière (trotskyist) with Arlette Laguiller then Nathalie Artaud , the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire with Olivier Besancenot then Philippe Poutou (other trotskyists) ; in 2007 the party of hunters (yes : it exists) with Frédéric Nihous, the MPF with Philippe de Villiers (extreme right), and a few others including José Bové, and still another Trotskyist ; in 2012, two other unimportant candidates. Globally, all these candidates, who have no chance to win, usually represent 20% to 30% which are, literally, wasted but in the second round, a majority of their voters vote for the left and a strong minority abstains. Except for Besancenot in 2007 (4%), their scores were very disappointing (for them!) : 1 to 2% each. For each of them, the critical issue is to get more than 5% of the votes, the score over which campaigning expenses are reimbursed by the State, but in 2007 they all missed it and their respective parties were ruined.
  • In a previous elections (2002), quite unexpectedly, extreme rightist Jean Marie Le Pen got more votes than Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in the first round and the second round took place between him and Jacques Chirac for the right, elected by 82%, more by a rejection of his opponent than by a choice for him.
  • After the victory of Sarkozy in 2007, its major opponent the Socialist Party (47% of the vote) has entered a very serious crisis : it had to change and abandon its old Marxist myths. It is a very difficult evolution and it could, most likely, take years. In 2012, the Socialist party was unchanged and its program and its campaign were still very archaic ("our main enemy is the international finance", "if elected we'll create a 75% tax for income over 1 million Euros", etc...) but it won the election !
  • More about "the audit of France in 2012"
 

 

  • Many famous actors, singers, writers, etc .... are second-generation immigrants (see the list of Most Loved French Personalities, and French songs, movies and literature)
  • France refuses the concept of affirmative action, in the name of equality and anti-communautarism, but in fact many new programs to facilitate access to higher education to children of immigrants are implemented under the supervision of a "Haut Commissaire à la Diversité et à l'Egalité des Chances" (Yazid Sabeg, a successful businessman of Algerian origin, appointed Decembert 2008 with the rank of a minister in the cabinet)
  • Among them, a special track of access to the prestigious Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), the very nest of high ranking civil servants
  • 200 mosques are under construction
  • more to come.

How to become French ? (as of today Dec.2009)

  • Children born in France to foreign parents ("naturalisation par filiation") : automatically at age 18 if they ask for it
  • Spouse of French citizen ("naturalisation par mariage") : automatically by simple request after the marriage
  • Foreigners living legally in France ("naturalisation par décret") : you have to apply ; approx. 80% of applications are accepted, after a process which can take several months or years ; reasons for refusal are mostly "not enough links to France" (does not live in France, does not speak French, ...) or (rarely) "incompatibility with French values" (religious extremism : about 20 cases a year)
  • Overall, more than 100 000 applicants receive French citizenship every year, (the highest proportion in Europe) ; most of them from North Africa (see detailed figures) ; the proportion of immigrants who apply for and get French nationality is estimated at 41% (same % as in the USA)
  • You must be a French citizen to be a civil servant
  • More to come....

 

DID YOU KNOW THAT....? In France it is prohibited by law to create and collect any statistical data concerning race or religion. Therefore, questions such as "How many Blacks in France?" ,"How many Protestants?" , "What is the number of people of Arab origin?" or "Where do French Jews live?" have no statistically official answer. It is prohibited, under heavy penalty, to keep any such individual data on a computer file and the CNIL (Commission Nationale Informatique et Liberté) has huge powers to investigate it. The reason for this is in the vision the French have of their own identity : anybody born in France is (automatically) French and becomes identical to all his/her compatriots, whatever his/her origin. No discrimination can be made, based on the color of the skin or religious beliefs and no such community can be officially acknowledged (read more about anti-communautarisme).

To related pages : more issues (#2), events, as reported by the French media, French society, try my French Quiz, etc...

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Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books:

  • "Joie de Vivre", Secrets of Wining, Dining and Romancing like the French, St.Martin's Press, New York, 2012
  • "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999
  • "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001

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