After having lived and worked in multiple EU countries, I'm convinced that language is the single biggest barrier to true freedom of movement of workers in the EU. In Germany, for example, you cannot assume any daily task can be accomplished without the German language. You're then faced with either constantly dealing with communication problems with everything in your life, or paying the significant opportunity cost of learning a new language -- which you will likely never learn to high enough degree to fluently use in business, and which won't help you in the next country in which you live.
What is needed is a joint common language (English) that everyone in the EU learns starting in kindergarten and in which you're guaranteed state services in every member state. But there is no chance the French and German speakers would ever agree to that, it is like a religious issue.
Great! I propose Spanish, being the second most spoken language by number of native speakers (behind Chinese), and given the relevance of Spain through history in Europe.
(this comment was only half joking. It's easy to impose a global language when it's yours, but you see, it's a different story when you need to learn a different one).
Debatable. I feel that business level fluency/proficiency is easy: limited vocabulary, limited jargon, overall formal tone.
Getting to a conversational level in any kind of social settings, now that's the hard part of any language, in my opinion.
Example: Some court proceedings in Germany can now be done in English:
http://www.fgvw.de/en/news/archive-2015/the-introduction-of-...
This said, the market is adjusting on its own. EU customers are voting with their wallets, and the more they move around, the more English-speaking cross-border businesses flourish.
Officially, France (and the Academy) only barely recognize the existence of French spoken in their former colonies, and even then only when it's convenient (to maximize the count of the number of French speakers). They go out of their way to try to "preserve" the French that is spoken by white French people in France itself as the only official version of French, so they sure as heck aren't going to recognize other languages spoken in France by minorities other than French.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergonha
My grandparents speak Breton too, though not with me. As children, they used to have their fingers smacked if they happened to say a word in Breton. Back then, the French of the Republic, one and indivisible, was to be heard in all schools and those who dared challenge this policy were humiliated with having to wear a clog around their necks or kneel down on a ruler under a sign that read: "It is forbidden to spit on the ground and speak Breton".[13] That's the reason why some older folks won't transmit the language to their children: it brings trouble upon yourself...
Personally, I've moved two times and I didn't have to do the close/open/cheque stuff. And the direct debit authorization I've since before the first move keep working.
As for cheques, It's very rarely used, I still use the first chequebook I was given when I opened my bank account more than 10 years ago. I've never experienced the "pay by cheque" at the super market since I was a child. Cheques are used in very few situations, the last I encountered was for the "solde de tout compte" when I left my previous job.
As for cheque usage, 4 years ago (when I was there) loads of people were still using them (young and old). This is in central and south France (no idea about Paris, never lived there).
If you belong to the Christian minority, expect to be harassed by those you say "We need to respect all religions". Everyday you'll face jokes like "priests rape kids, followers are stuck-up, donating is worse than sponsoring a mafia".
President Macron himself is seen as a capitalist enemy by those 20-50%, and this Mélenchon group explicitly denies his legitimacy. There are currently very active groups and many of my friends are preparing the ground on Facebook (God knows what kind of riots they're preparing for September – you think I'm kidding? wait and watch).
French people are entirely hostile to privately-owned companies and average-wealthy managers, so, no, I wouldn't recommend my country for entrepreneurs, not until they make peace with a reasonable dose of capitslism. And that's where I have hope for Macron: If he does the right things, he may tame anti-capitalism sentiments a bit and show that hard works does bring money.
In other words, 80% don't. I am not quite sure what point you are trying to make and I don't want to interpret your words as a claim that 20% is far too much. Until we get an implementation of Capitalism that proves its superiority to all other models and demonstrates its ability to regulate itself, it's probably safe to tolerate alternative points of views don't you think? If it provides moderation and balance, I'm not against it personally.
That said, the de-facto, pavlovian hostility you are probably referring to is certainly annoying: and what I mean is that sometimes it is just purely out of doctrine, without a single argument intelligent or not. But hey, you have the same thing at the other end of the spectrum, on the other side of the Atlantic where for example, the words 'socialist' or 'communist' are slurs.
It's exactly what we are talking about: Those 'commies' go well beyond oral discussions, they are materially hostile, with the ranges of consequences I explained above.
This is why it's called extremism: They are not tolerant with other points of view.
Anyway. You don't have to understand the problem for that problem to exist. Look at the other comments, there's enough testimonials of the same thing to attest that it exists. It's just that you belong to the group of people who deny it, downplay the problem, or attempt to show 'it's ok because others are doing worse', which doesn't help solving the problem.
The point is, since there is a specific risk for managers/owners of companies, I wouldn't recommend an entrepreneur to choose France. Let France solve its hostility to capitalism first, and see if people are less hostile in 5 years.
You might want to read your initial comment one more time then, my observation was related to your statistic about anti-capitalist 'opinions', but now you seem to have switched to 'violence'. The point I am making is that debating ideas is important and having a constructive critic of capitalism is necessary, that's why I have no problem with your statistic. Unless 20% of the population is ready to take up arms to install the dictatorship of proletariat, but I am sure you know this isn't the case.
> This is why it's called extremism: They are not tolerant with other points of view
Unlike you, who couldn't possibly be suspect of intolerance to other view points as demonstrated by your rhetoric.
> Anyway. You don't have to understand the problem for that problem to exist. Look at the other comments, there's enough testimonials of the same thing to attest that it exists. It's just that you belong to the group of people who deny it, downplay the problem, or attempt to show 'it's ok because others are doing worse', which doesn't help solving the problem.
You realize I quoted one line about statistics, and commented it, don't you?
In case you are curious, and since you have taken the freedom to cluster me in a group already, and seemingly know what my opinion is on your brilliant diagnostic of the problems of France:
Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I'm fully aware that certain aspects of France, administrative or cultural, don't exactly make it the perfect place to create a business, that said, I'm not an entrepreneur myself and there are certainly a ton of other positive aspects that should not be overlooked. As for the rest of your depiction of France as the ultimate entrepreneurial hell, it's a bit too excessive to be significant.
I really, really haven't witnessed that those 20% are non-violent, much the opposite. They wouldn't install "dictature du proletariat" of course, but mugging moderately-rich people is a recurrent story in France. That's what I'm highlighting when I quote the "Petit Grégory", other stories of physical exclusion and physical violence, including the video of the Air France CEO being mugged by employees, sequestration of management teams until they sign off grants for employees, humiliation of Christian people without grounds... French people, until demonstrated otherwise, are hostile to successful people. Except JJ Goldman, but he's openly Communist-friendly.
You say it's all peaceful discussions, but I witness the violence, verbal to physical. And beyond those 20%, another 30% are happy bystanders, who wouldn't oppose if such a scene happened ("he's rich, he didn't donate to that homeless guy, therefore he had it coming").
Look, HN is not the best place for politics, it's rather a place to arouse one's curiosity. So please take note of the phenomenon I'm bringing to your attention (which is corroborated by 3-4 prople below), and you'll notice the phenomenon in real life if you pay attention.
I have to admit I am starting to be confused about the 20% who are 'the opposite of non-violent' really are then. Since we were talking about opinions against capitalism and you made a connection to violence, I felt that you might be referring to certain fringe elements of the left who in fact, and typically during strikes, tend to riot, throw molotov cocktails and bust up some bus stops. But hey, while they are very visible when those things happen, you cannot seriously continue to make it like the 20% we are talking about are those people, it's intellectually dishonest.
Anyhow and with all due respect, there are more than just one problem with your arguments. For example, you seem to explain the motive of a crime that has been committed 30 years ago as vile jealousy and hostility to wealth and success in the French culture. The crime however remains unsolved to this day, the motive is still unknown, in other words, you are just using your own opinion as an argument. The rest of your demonstration is certainly entertaining to read as your tangents cover several populist bullet points with a little bit of virtuosity: the innuendo I think is aimed at immigrants although I am not entirely sure, and then those Greeks who don't pay their taxes, before finishing with locally grown groceries, apparently, but I have to admit you completely lost me here, and I would sincerely love to hear what you meant, it sounds fun.
I'll simply have the elegance to stop it there instead of covering the next 3 paragraphs who are in the same vein, but mostly because I chose to believe you are an intelligent person, and couldn't seriously come with something like this to make your case.
If you are ready for introspection and honestly accept to read your essay with a critical eye, you might observe that while the 4 paragraphs you wrote depict several different problems that you have identified in this country, the blame is always put on something or someone, and that's why France is such a clusterfuck to live in, and not a single time you have something constructive to say. In terms of negativity and exaggeration however, this is an open bar.
So, if you look at things objectively, you might realize that what you actually wrote simply is just: a rant, plain and simple. I think this also explains why you dared labelling me and attributing me thoughts that you suspected I had earlier. It is now very clear to me that you weren't replying to me, you were just sort of iterating your rent since you had apparently convinced yourself that I must be one of those guys of that group. It would be very nice of you to unregister me from that group you have clustered me in. And please just don't persist arguing with me on a discussion we are not having, let alone with such non arguments, having spent the first 30 years of my life in France, you realize my understanding of French capitalism isn't going to change after reading 3 or 4 testimonies in an HN thread.
Let me still contribute to your list of desirable changes that might help make things better in France. I think your essay could be seen as a perfect embodiment of something that might not just be a stereotype, but perhaps a little bit of a reality: a tendency to negatively complain about problems, without being constructive.
Who would mug you?!?
I can't speak for all ages, but the youth are incredibly passionate about politics and many hold strong anti capitalism beliefs and will enthusiastically riot at the chance to have their opinions heard.
What I love about Macron is his unashamed centerist approach. It's new in France and I hope he has ushered in a new dimension to French politics that sticks and makes it more normal for people to vote for different parties each time based on what a manifesto actually says and who's running for elected office.
Macron reminds me a little of 1997 in the UK and Tony Blair. Let's hope he avoids turning in to a war criminal in a few years time... :)
The thing is, those left leaning student bodies are the only ones to have credible presence in most universities due to the amount of support they garner to push their communications and frankly the incompetence of the right leaning student orgs.
It's a bit of a self perpetuating cycle where the right leaning folks don't have as much support structure to coordinate because of how everyone (themselves included) see the right.
- Generally, strikes start in unis and high schools in the far end of September, and, depending on the year, they may develop into fully-grown national riots in public companies (SNCF) then private companies, or if there's no political following, they die off with the October school holidays. This year I'm forecasting a lot of following, because Macron intends to take controversial decisions about employment laws during this summer.
- Flight strikes are rather planned for Christmas holidays (20 Dec-3 Jan). They have internal reasons and are generally not related to the October strike season. So, your September holidays are safe ;)
Hollande's reform clearly didn't have a majority, this one is in the same bag. Most of the people who voted for Macron did it only because of the fear of Le Pen.
The lecture is 30 years old but everything going on today makes sense after hearing him lay things out. The division in society on race, gender, income, etc is by design to keep the plebes at each others throats.
"If I am elected, France will launch a major initiative beginning this summer targeting the major Internet providers, so that they agree to the legal seizure of data from their encrypted services as part of the fight against terrorism"
Or nefarious goals. If you can spy on the opposition, or popular movements, that's good for you when you are in power.
Or they do know things, and we're the ones in the wrong.
Or simply, security theater.
Fingers crossed.
So there is indeed hope that he won't follow his campaign line to the letter.
I don't see why there would be a need for a Etat d'Urgence now but not in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s...
Plus the scale of casualties of terrorism is dwarfed by common crime for which the state response has been the exact opposite than to terrorism (i.e. to reduce or eliminate jail sentences).
And if this Etat d'Urgence was used solely against terrorism, it could be debatable, but instead it is clearly being used against lots of non-islamist terrorist targets (including preventing people from demonstrating against the previous government labour laws...) so I believe we are in a clean cut abuse of power situation.
More worryingly, Macron's exit from the Etat d'Urgent Permanent strategy involves basically making these exceptional measures permanent by adding them to common law.
So low expectations...
Word of advice from an equally confused native: smile and ask questions. That ought to get you far enough unless you're in Paris (my condolences if you have to deal with the ile de france préfectures or mairies).
Also, the large regions of France are called "régions" ;-)
You can use an online bank if you think you'll move around a lot. Plus today it has become very easy to switch bank thanks to Loi Macron, and most bank now take charge of everything to attract new customers.
All developers/people speak: French, English and Dutch.
The only thing is, the taxes are very high. But on the other hand, the health care is awesome and cheap. Flemish people are also known to be hard workers
Anekdote: I'm Flemish, but this is what polls/research of EU-countries also conclude.
The things you hear in the news, is mostly when the Southern part of Belgium is involved ( strikes, political crisis, Brussels-Molenbeek). Due to differences between North and South Belgium ( south = very socialist and even communism since recently, where north is more liberal)
I actually believe the northern part of Belgium has more in common with the Netherlands, than the southern part..
PS. I'll probably be downvoted, but please add your opinion. I know it's very controversial. That doesn't mean i'm wrong. If you think i'm wrong, i'm open for alternative opinions as always.
Also in actual Flanders, some people in the administration will only ever talk to you in Dutch, even if they understand English and French.
> Why did we need to migrate accounts? Because you could only deposit cheques in the same department as your local branch.
Not true for all banks, national ones (like BNP) always allowed to deposit anywhere, and for most you could mail directly to the account branch (no need to go through a friend). Also, online banks solve this nicely.
> Why were we depositing cheques?! Because half of France (including my fiancées' employer at the time) still uses them for everything (which is also great fun if you're in a rush in Super-U and the person in front decides to pay with one).
"Half" is overemphatic, even for 2013. This is not the case anymore, huge majority now pays via chip and pin cards and waiting in line is not so much of a problem with self-checkout machines.
Some doctors are also hell-bent on not taking carte vitale and "tiers payant", nor credit card. In such cases checks are practical.
Bureaucracies though are a completely different beast. Better value? Happier customers? They care not a bit. You need different levers to (sloooowly) move them.
For examples, I would look at automating standard government functions (e.g., car registrations, toll collections, etc.). Putting those online leaves some clerks unemployed and is thus often resisted by default, so someone found a working path for each of those
As an example, all the online banking start ups belong ( or were created as subsidiaries of) big banks. All of them.
We eventually transferred to a large multinational bank. It requires us to keep a lot of funds in their account. But I can deposit a check anywhere in France.
If my experience a few years ago with the auto entrepreneur scheme and URSAFF are anything to go by, you'll need a lot of patience, the ability to speak half decent French and a sense of humour if you want to avoid ripping all your hair out :)
I love France (have even married one of their citizens!) but this is a country where in 2013 we moved from one department to another and had to close our bank accounts with the branches in the first department and open new ones in the second department because there was no way to migrate accounts between branches of the same bank o_O We literally had to post cheques to a friend in the old department so he could deposit them while we waited for the old accounts to be closed and new ones opened (complete with different cards, chequebooks, account numbers - the works).
Why did we need to migrate accounts? Because you could only deposit cheques in the same department as your local branch. Why were we depositing cheques?! Because half of France (including my fiancées' employer at the time) still uses them for everything (which is also great fun if you're in a rush in Super-U and the person in front decides to pay with one).
Having said all of that, France is awesome despite its flaws and there are lots of reasons to be hopeful with Macron now piloting the ship.