At GatesOfVienna Dymphna has an interesting post on Europe as seen from across the pond which is based partly on an excellent post at Brussels Journal. To me almost the best part of the Gates post the comments. The first from Jonathan links to an nice piece of analysis in the Wapping Liar about the growing protectionism in the EU - a trend which notably does not include the UK. He also notes that the UK is somewhat detached from the continental EU in other respects too. On that note I heard the Chancellor Gordon Brown give his budget speech last week and he made it very clear that the UK is economically far different to (and better than) its continental peers in terms of growth, unemployment etc. etc. In fact his reciting of statistics made it clear that while the UK is not quite in the economic health league of the USA, it is a decent second and that the continental Europe countries are generally speaking what horse-racing commentors call "also-rans". For those of us who recall the dire UK performance in the 1970s this is quite a turn around.
Although the UK welfare state is a disaster it is, so far (and NO thanks to Gordon), far less of a disaster than the rest of the EU. Gordon can blow money and still maintain fiscal safety. One difference I think is that the UK doesn't expect the government to do everything and indeed has a general distrust of the government which hinders Brown, Blair and their ZANU Labour colleagues in their attempts to turn the UK into a one party politically correct dictatorship. While there is certainly an increasingly state-dependant class within the UK - from the unemployed and "disabled" to the armies of lesbian outreach officers and other guardianista bureaucrats - there is still a large part which expects to do most things without the state getting involved.
France, on the other hand, is right where the UK was in the 1970s. The unions have all the power, the government is rudderless and the people are to an unimaginable extent dependant on the state. There is an expectation that the government is some sort of bottomless pit of money that can do anything. Combine this with a bunch of leaders who are generally speaking corrupt and amoral and you have a recipe for upcoming disaster. The second commenter, "philipinephil", notes that his brother-in-law, a French businessman, is considering emigration to the Philipines as a better choice than life in France.
From time to time I think similar thoughts, but I have to say that the quality of life in this corner of France is still better than anywhere else I know of. I did, for example, whine a bit about the traffic jam in Grimaud on the way back from St Tropez today; but compared to jams on the M4 near London, highway 17 going back to Silicon Valley from Santa Cruz or for that matter the Autoroutes near Paris on a Sunday evening our jam was nothing. It is true it would be far worse if I were stupid enough to go there in July but I don't. There are plenty of pleasant places (and beaches) that don't involve traffic jams and mostly I go to them. The average commute for people working in Sophia Antipolis - the Riviera's answer to Silicon Valley (ha ha ha) - is about 20 minutes and, other than the lemmings who live in Nice and take the Autoroute, it involves driving down mostly pleasant roads at decent speeds. When I worked in Sophia I used to actually enjoy the drive to work and I actually photographed part of it so you can see why. Those who work in Monaco have it a little harder perhaps but it is rare to have a commute anywhere of more than 45 minutes or so.
The problem is that I, and most of the people I know here, have very little to do with the rest of France. Even if we work in local French businesses our business customers are typically non-French. Many people work in the hospitality trades and their customers may include the French vacationers but there seem to be just as many (if not more) non French ones. The property prices are far higher than most of the rest of France because of all us foreigners buying houses and when we do them up, if we do emply French labourers we frequently pay them on the black. And so on. I would not be surprised if the inhabitants of the Alpes Maritimes would not prefer to be (re)incorporated into Monaco. And without a doubt here on the Riviera, while French is the language used in everyday life, business conducted with people other than local artisans is typically carried out in English much of the time if you are a foreigner and, increasingly, even if you are French, simply because our customers are not French speaking. If l'Escroc had the vapours that a Frenchman spoke at a conference in English then he'd best not come visit Sophia because he'll probably have a fatal heart attack.
On my way to St Tropez today I was chatting with a fellow expat and we agreed that the only hope France has is for a Margaret Thatcher equivalent to come along. The only politician who comes anywhere close is Sarko and I hope he is elected and does indeed reform but I'm not terribly optimistic about the chances of this happening soon. I fear things are going to have to get a lot worse before the French are willing to stomach the sort of reform required.