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Europe
- Compared Competitiveness
According to the World Economic Forum, compared competitiveness
(2005 figures) of countries leads to the following ranking :
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Finland # 1
USA # 2
Sweden # 3
...
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Japan # 12
UK # 13
Germany # 15
....
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France # 30 (even worse than in 2004 : # 27)
Belgium : # 31 |
...
Italy : # 47
China : # 49
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The criteria include economic policies, regulatory environment,
opinion of business leaders etc. The mediocre ranking of France
has many good reasons and is largely deserved. One can only observe
(once again) that criteria are not neutral : public expenses
are taken into account only negatively, regardless of their
social and economic profitability : they are considered a waste
of resources. France is therefore penalized when investing in
its fast trains (TGV) or nuclear power plants and would improve
its ranking if not developping such public investments.
More on rankings
and read my editorial
about it..
- Compared attractivity : Paris
and other European cities. Number
of new implantation of international headquarters in 2005 (Source
: Ernst & Young Investment European Monitor 2006, in Le Parisien
June 19, 2006) :
| Paris |
194 |
Madrid |
47 |
Amsterdam |
30 |
| London |
177 |
Frankfurt |
40 |
Düsseldorf |
24 |
| Barcelona |
64 |
Budapest |
34 |
Milano |
17 |
| Moskow |
57 |
Bruxelles |
31 |
Genève |
16 |
| Stoscholm |
55 |
Dublin |
30 |
Berlin |
13 |
- Compared attitude toward
America, European unity and Globalization : T.R.Reid
has elaborated three ratios for the 25 countries. The results
are :
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- The
25 countries of Europe are very different, have different languages
and a very different history and culture. Not surprisingly, they
have a very stereotyped vision of one another. Recent
polls illustrate how limited their mutual knowledge is and the
kind of cliché that comes to their mind when asked the
question " How would you describe the people of such and
such European country ? ". Here are the results as summarized
by Clodong and Lamarque
:
| |
How do other countries see
the French : |
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How do the French see the other
European people : |
|
| Dutch |
restless, talkative,
not serious |
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ecologists,
laxist, open, progressive, libertarian, tall |
| English |
chauvinistic,
intransigent, cared for by the state, no sense of humour |
|
insular, conceited,
monarchist, anti - European, snob, independent, conservative,
pragmatic |
| Germans |
conceited,
offhand, frivolous |
|
rigorous, hard
- workers, serious, disciplined, organized, legalist, formalist |
| Greeks |
not very smart |
|
messy, lazy,
indolent, nonchalent |
| Italians |
snobs, arrogant |
|
glib talkers,
pleasure seekers, friendly, family - oriented, bon vivant, womanizers,
smooth -t alkers, machos, lady killers |
| Portuguese |
lesson givers,
haughty |
|
hard - workers,
courageous, Catholic, family - oriented, short |
| Spaniards |
cold, distant,
impolite, conceited |
|
revellers,
warm, traditional, modern, regionalist, noisy, religious, bon
vivant |
| Swedes |
disobedient,
immoral, disorganized, neocolonialists, dirty |
|
blond, tall,
clean, organized, cold, Scandinavian, Nordic, Viking, ecologists |
| Austrians |
The study
does not give the vision of the French by the following people
but only the vision the French have of them |
|
rigorous, cold,
nationalist, xenophobic, haughty, intolerant, clean |
| Belgians |
|
|
friendly, francophile,
divided, pro - European, warm, French - fry eaters |
| Cypriots |
|
|
insular, rustic, divided |
| Czechs |
|
|
cultured, poor, pro - European,
culturally rich |
| Danish |
|
|
cold, clean, blond, tall,
artist, melancholic, hard - workers |
| Estonians |
|
|
poor, pro - European, invaded,
occupied |
| Finns |
|
|
courageous, cold, rough,
friendly, blond, tenacious, Nordic |
| Hungarians |
|
|
warm, sad, intelligent,
gypsy |
| Irish |
|
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reveller, courageous, traditionalist,
warm, beer - drinkers |
| Latvians |
|
|
? (no image) |
| Lithuanians |
|
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pro - European, poor |
| Luxemburgers |
|
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rich, friendly, pro - European,
discreet, wheeler - dealers |
| Maltese |
|
|
warm, insular, organized,
isolated |
| Polish |
|
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hard - workers, Catholic,
courageous, alcoholics, resistants |
| Slovaks |
|
|
open, poor, hard - workers |
| Slovenians |
|
|
slavic, family - oriented,
poor |
|
|
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Harriet Welty
Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French.
Order her books:
- "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
More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming
events, testimonials, etc..)
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