U.S. businesses bullish on Sarkozy
PARIS – American business loves French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
That’s the result of a survey of U.S. executives in France, published Wednesday, which showed that 83 percent think the new president will have a positive impact on foreign investment.
Not one of the 67 top executives of the French units of American companies surveyed in July said the election of a successor to Jacques Chirac is bad for business.
“France is back in vogue,” said Bertrand Pointeau, a partner at consulting firm Bain and Co., which conducted the survey for the American Chamber of Commerce.
The man known as “Sarko the American” for his pro-U.S. stance on everything from hamburgers to Iran was elected in May on a platform that promised a break with the cautious, sometimes protectionist policies, under Chirac. Chirac once referred to economic liberalism as a “form of deviance.”
In his first six months as president, Sarkozy has lived up to his pledge to heal relations with the United States shattered by the Iraq war. He vacationed in New Hampshire and claimed earlier this month in his first official visit to have “never quite understood why we had to fight.”
The energetic 52-year-old conservative is also working on shaking up France’s economy, in part by trying to inject an American-style work ethic of longer hours and more pay.
Most popular among the reforms promised on the campaign trail is the creation of a more flexible contract with workers and a French-version of the U.S. Small Business Act, designed to help budding entrepreneurs. Neither measure has yet made it to the statute book.
Among the reforms already enacted, removing restrictions to overtime work and capping the tax burden at 50 percent received the most enthusiastic response from U.S. business.
High taxes and French labor laws remain the nation’s principal handicaps, while investors still prize the country’s infrastructure and well-educated work force, the annual poll found.
Though businesses like changes proposed by Sarkozy, France’s powerful trade unions are resisting. Rail drivers brought France to a standstill for nine days earlier this month over plans to make them work longer to earn a pension.
Commuters long accustomed to labor walkouts lost patience, however, and were quick to lambast striking train drivers for defending privileges most see as unfair. Public support helped Sarkozy resist, scoring what was seen as a necessary victory for his broader agenda.
The results of the poll were based on expectations, rather than results, given that the survey was conducted just two months after Sarkozy’s election, Pointeau acknowledged.
Responses were gathered from more than 1,000 questionnaires sent in July. The 67 companies that replied, which were not named, represent a range of industries including food, transport, high-tech and pharmaceutical. A third have more than 1,000 employees.