FRANCE:French hairdressers, taxi drivers and supermarket owners could soon be freed from the grip of state regulation after Nicolas Sarkozy was yesterday presented with a miracle plan that could drag the ailing French economy out of years of stupor, writes Angelique Chrisafisin Paris
The controversial free-market proposals by a commission of economists and business leaders seek to boost France's sluggish growth by scrapping bureaucracy, freeing supermarket giants to set their own prices and easing entry to state-regulated professions. But they have already caused ructions within the president's ruling centre-right party.
Local elections loom in March and some politicians fear the reaction of voters accustomed to high French state intervention and suspicious of liberalisation and open competition.
Mr Sarkozy yesterday embraced a proposal to scrap ancient state regulations on entry to jobs such as taxi driving, hairdressing and working as a lawyer. He acknowledged the outdated rules governing French taxis, which have spawned a Parisian joke that it is impossible to find a taxi in rush-hour or in the rain. "Paris is the only town in the world where you have a problem finding a taxi," Mr Sarkozy said.
French taxi drivers are so heavily regulated that new entrants must take over the licence of a retiring driver at great cost, or wait years to get their own. This means there is little competition and a lack of cabs. The number of Paris taxis in 2007 was only fractionally more than in 1937.
But the national federation of self-employed taxi drivers said it was "outraged" by the proposal, adding that members would take to the streets.
Hairdressers also complained about ending state regulation. France has stricter entry requirements for hairdressing than its EU neighbours, insisting on two diplomas and an average of four years' specialised training, plus an apprenticeship - demands which put off newcomers, say critics.
France's economic malaise is voters' biggest concern and Mr Sarkozy's biggest headache. His promised "economic revolution" has yet to materialise.