Latest news with #AméliedeMontchalin
Local France
5 days ago
- Business
- Local France
Who works harder - the French or the Germans?
France's prime minister recently scolded his compatriots for not working enough, while the country's public accounts minister went further and said : "In France, we work 100 hours less per person than in Germany". The comments come in the context of France's fraught budget debates - the 2026 Budget aims to save €40 billion to finally get a handle on the country's spiralling budget deficit and one of the measures proposed is to axe two public holidays . But is it actually true, as minister Amélie de Montchalin says, that the Germans work harder than the French? Judging by the country's respective stereotypes, you would think it is - while Germans are clichéd as hard-working, efficient and (dare we say it?) just a touch humourless, the French are widely seen as far more interested in having a good lunch, a long holiday and perhaps a romantic encounter than they are in work. But stereotypes are not statistics, and here, the data tells an unexpected story. Advertisement De Montchalin's figures appear to be based on OECD data from 2024 which shows that France worked an average of 666 hours per capita, compared with 724 hours in Germany. Both countries are slackers by European standards - the European Union average is 776 hours. So case closed? Not quite. This data uses the crude metric of dividing the total numbers of hours worked per year by the country's population - and that's the whole ppopulation including children, pensioners, the unemployed and other people not in the workforce. This puts France at a disadvantage, because it it has a relatively high percentage of the population not in work, due to a combination of factors such as a long life expectancy which, coupled with an early retirement age, means that around a quarter of the population is retired . France also has a higher unemployment rate than Germany, but it also has a higher birth-rate meaning that there are more children who are not (yet) in the workforce. The OECD also publishes more nuanced data which looks at work hours divided by the total workforce - a more accurate measure of how hard each worker is actually working . On this metric, France wins - French workers work 1,494 hours per year, while Germans work 1,340 hours a year. Once again, both are below the EU average of 1,570 hours a year. The European champions/suckers are Greece, where people work 1,882 hours per year. Eurostat data backs up this picture, showing that on average French workers work 35.8 hours per week, while Germans work 33.9 hours per week (this data includes full time and part time workers). Advertisement Last year, France's Conseil d'analyse économique (council for economic analysis) published a study on the total number of working hours over time, comparing France, Germany, the UK and the USA. It shows a uniform decline in the number of hours worked in Europe from the 1970s, a trend that was reversed 20 years later - since the mid-1990s, the number of hours worked has been rising in France, Germany and the UK. So overall we can say that Germans are more likely to be part of the workforce than the French - but among those who do work, the French work more. It is still true that the French lunch break is widely observed, though, in fact the country's workplace code specifies that it is illegal to eat lunch while at your desk/work station .
Local Germany
5 days ago
- Business
- Local Germany
Who works harder - the French or the Germans?
France's prime minister recently scolded his compatriots for not working enough, while the country's public accounts minister went further and said : "In France, we work 100 hours less per person than in Germany". The comments come in the context of France's fraught budget debates - the 2026 Budget aims to save €40 billion to finally get a handle on the country's spiralling budget deficit and one of the measures proposed is to axe two public holidays . But is it actually true, as minister Amélie de Montchalin says, that the Germans work harder than the French? Judging by the country's respective stereotypes, you would think it is - while Germans are clichéd as hard-working, efficient and (dare we say it?) just a touch humourless, the French are widely seen as far more interested in having a good lunch, a long holiday and perhaps a romantic encounter than they are in work. But stereotypes are not statistics, and here, the data tells an unexpected story. Advertisement De Montchalin's figures appear to be based on OECD data from 2024 which shows that France worked an average of 666 hours per capita, compared with 724 hours in Germany. Both countries are slackers by European standards - the European Union average is 776 hours. So case closed? Not quite. This data uses the crude metric of dividing the total numbers of hours worked per year by the country's population - and that's the whole people including children, pensioners, the unemployed and other people not in the workforce. This puts France at a disadvantage, because it it has a relatively high percentage of the population not in work, due to a combination of factors such as a long life expectancy which, coupled with an early retirement age, means that around a quarter of the population is retired . France also has a higher unemployment rate than Germany, but it also has a higher birth-rate meaning that there are more children who are not (yet) in the workforce. The OECD also publishes more nuanced data which looks at work hours divided by the total workforce - a more accurate measure of how hard each worker is actually working . On this metric, France wins - French workers work 1,494 hours per year, while Germans work 1,340 hours a year. Once again, both are below the EU average of 1,570 hours a year. The European champions/suckers are Greece, where people work 1,882 hours per year. Eurostat data backs up this picture, showing that on average French workers work 35.8 hours per week, while Germans work 33.9 hours per week (this data includes full time and part time workers). Advertisement Last year, France's Conseil d'analyse économique (council for economic analysis) published a study on the total number of working hours over time, comparing France, Germany, the UK and the USA. It shows a uniform decline in the number of hours worked in Europe from the 1970s, a trend that was reversed 20 years later - since the mid-1990s, the number of hours worked has been rising in France, Germany and the UK. So overall we can say that Germans are more likely to be part of the workforce than the French - but among those who do work, the French work more. It is still true that the French lunch break is widely observed, though, in fact the country's workplace code specifies that it is illegal to eat while at your desk/work station .
Euractiv
5 days ago
- Business
- Euractiv
France secures €1.6 bln cut in planned EU budget contribution
Jul 17, 2025 05:51 1 min. read News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. France secures €1.6 bln cut in planned EU budget contribution PARIS – France has secured a €1.6 billion reduction in its planned EU budget contribution for 2026, lowering the expected payment to €27.6 billion, according to L'Opinion . Sources close to Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin indicated that France's total payment to Brussels would be lowered from the €29.2 billion initially projected. If confirmed, the move would offer relief to Prime Minister François Bayrou, just a day after he unveiled his sweeping austerity plan aimed at achieving nearly €44 billion in savings next year. It also undercuts far-right Rassemblement National's (RN) core demand to slash France's contributions to the EU. RN leader Marine Le Pen said in a post on X that the French had 'massively' endorsed freezing France's contributions to the EU by 'by backing Jordan Bardella's list in the European elections', referring to her party colleague's strong performance in last year's elections. (Laurent Geslin) Euractiv is part of the Trust Project Topics
LeMonde
19-06-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
Why the French economy is stuck in stagnation
With consumer spending failing to rebound, savings rates remaining at record highs, investments struggling to recover and foreign trade slipping back into deficit, all the engines of the French economy have come to a halt. According to the new outlook from INSEE, France's national statistics agency, published on Wednesday, June 18, GDP growth in 2025 is not expected to exceed 0.6%. This is likely a disappointment for the government, which had revised its growth forecast down to 0.7% in April, a 0.2-point drop from the 0.9% it still hoped for in January. Despite fresh uncertainty triggered by the war between Israel and Iran, Amélie de Montchalin, the minister for public accounts, said on Tuesday: "Our growth forecast remains achievable." INSEE's outlook is more pessimistic than the government's. Growth was barely positive in the first quarter (0.1%) and was only expected to reach 0.2% in each of the next three quarters. The French economy has not benefited from the slight improvement in the eurozone business climate, partly linked to lower interest rates. "Fiscal consolidation is weighing on activity," stressed Dorian Roucher, head of the economic outlook department at INSEE. Government consumption, for instance, fell in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2024 (0.2% instead of 0.4%). The government, which must bring the public deficit down to 5.4% of gross domestic product in 2025 after 5.8% in 2024, is seeking to cut public spending by €40 billion. 'Excess savings' phenomenon Another handicap: Unlike the United Kingdom, Germany or Italy, France has not benefited from the "commercial rush" – that is, companies' rush to build up inventories ahead of the tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump in early April. This phenomenon led to a 1.7% jump in global trade in the first quarter. French foreign trade, after two strong years, slipped back into deficit. Despite the high-profile delivery of the cruise ship World-America by Chantiers de l'Atlantique to Swiss company MSC in March, exports fell by 1.8% in the first three months of the year. For 2025 as a whole, foreign trade is expected to reduce French GDP growth by 0.7 percentage points.
Local France
29-04-2025
- Business
- Local France
France proposes extra fees on small parcels from outside EU
French ministers have proposed strengthening border checks and adding a small 'handling fee' to goods purchased online from outside of the EU. The proposal is intended to target goods coming from China - as Europe prepares for the country to increase the number of goods sold in Europe following US tariffs - but would apply to purchases made in any non-EU country. For example, if you were to purchase makeup from a British brand only located in the UK, then it could be subject to additional scrutiny and thus a small handling fee would be added onto the final cost of the product. Advertisement As things stand, 'small parcels' (worth less than €150) that are purchased online and sent by mail to consumers in the EU are below the threshold for customs duties, though you do have to pay value-added tax (VAT). France cannot change the EU customs rules unilaterally, but in 2028, the EU will be able to vote on whether or not to scrap the exemption for customs duties on low-value packages. Until then, the idea, from the finance minister, Éric Lombard, and public accounts minister, Amélie de Montchalin, as discussed during a visit to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday, is to add on special handling fees. In 2024, 4.6 billion packages each worth under €150 entered the EU -- more than 145 per second -- with 91 percent originating in China. Some 800 million such packages were shipped to France alone last year, and in addition to making it harder for French retailers to compete, they also drive pollution, Le Parisien reported. How much would the fees be and what do they cover? According to reporting by AFP, the fee would be 'a few euros or a few cents' per item purchased, and it would help cover the cost of checking the incoming billions of small packages each year ordered by EU consumers via platforms such as Chinese-founded firms Temu and Shein. In 2023, BFMTV reported that over 225,000 imported toys were destroyed because they did not meet European safety standards. The French ministers explained that the goal will be for France's consumer affairs body (the DGCCRF) would conduct "360 degree" checks to better verify safety standards and environmental labelling and claims too. The French government also wants to better combat VAT fraud by de-registering imports which fail to submit requested documents. According to Le Parisien, the results of these more in-depth inspections will be available to consumers via the DGCCRF website , as well as on the consumer watchdog site ( Rappel Conso ). Advertisement Who would have to pay the fee? The minister for public accounts said that the handling fee should be paid "by the importers, the platforms, and not consumers". That said, platforms often pass on extra costs to customers, so it is possible consumers would see increased prices when buying small items from the US or UK. When would the change take effect? France hopes such a move could come into force in 2026. The country is also hoping to attract other EU members to the idea to make it harder for platforms to circumvent such a fee. "We can't do this alone, because if we do this alone the flows will go to another country," Finance Minister Eric Lombard said during the same visit to CDG airport. "We're hoping to quickly unite a group of countries that could implement such a measure," added de Montchalin. Foreigners living in France already face extra charges on parcels if the VAT and customs paperwork is not completed correctly. Explained: How to deal with fees for international parcels
