France in 2025: full employment, housing for all and on top of the world
French ministers are pulsating with confidence ahead of the new parliamentary term as they put forth their vision of how France will evolve by 2025. They posit that many of today’s ills from the jobless crisis, the housing squeeze to high public debt will all be reversed.
Issued on: Modified:
The ministers touted their reforms and hopes for the future in a summer homework assignment given to them by French President François Hollande ahead of a seminar today on the future of France.
Le Point weekly magazine leaked some of their visions ahead of today's deadline, which ranged from full on utopia to more guarded optimism.
The Minister of Economy Pierre Moscovici predicted full employment as the jobless rate hit the 11 per cent mark in June.
“Germany is at full employment and other countries that have experienced mass unemployment have also been able to improve their situation,” Moscovici wrote. “Why not France?”
After the leaks, Moscovici said to RFI that turning around unemployment is a realistic goal.
"I'd like us to stop being so gloomy and pessimistic," he said. "The french economy is strong and full employment by 2025 is a realistic goal."
And the scramble to find housing, and at an affordable price? That fight will also be won, according to Minister of Housing Cécile Duflot.
Under Duflot’s plans, six million new homes will be built and finding a home will no longer be a stressful event, she claims. Vacant housing will also become very rare.
France will also regain its voice among industrialized nations, according to Arnaud Montebourg, the Minister for Industrial Renewal and creator of the “Le Made in France” campaign.
He envisions the country as the world leader in renewable energy and smart grids that improve the efficiency and sustainability of electricity.
Just earlier in the summer the Cours des Comptes published a report that said reaching a goal for renewables to make up 23 percent of energy consumption by 2020 would be difficult to meet.
Montebourg also said the elimination of red tape will help morph start ups into large multinationals companies.
France’s jam-packed prisons will also see relief by 2025 as Justice Minister Christiane Taubira hopes to see the proliferation of in-community alternatives for less serious crimes or young offenders.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls also put forth a nebulous tech-savvy police force dubbed Gendarmerie 3.0.
We’ll just have to wait until 2025 to see what that becomes.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe