Friday, 7 November 2014

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE: NOUVEAU CONSTAT D'IMPUISSANCE?




François Hollande face aux français, sur TF1 , le programme était alléchant! mais la déception a été à la hauteur de l'attente ; pas de grandes annonces hormis l'éventuelle candidature de la France à l'organisation des jeux olympiques et de l'exposition universelle dans 10 ans...

Toutefois, ce n'est pas tant François Hollande mais la forme de l'émission qu'il convient d'incriminer: Le premier temps de l' émission consacré à l' interview confession du Président de la République était quasi insupportable. Imposer aux téléspectateurs le rôle de voyeur rendait chacun mal à l'aise et suscitait  un réel sentiment de compassion vis à vis de François Hollande.

On attendait avec impatience que se termine cette mise sur le grill afin de passer aux vraies questions économiques qui intéressent les français.

DML


 

HOLLANDE TV INTERVIEW : A COMPLETE "FLOP" !

The most unpopular President of France in living memory was expected to be "grilled" with leading questions of how he intended to "get France back to work", to "lead the fight", towards economic recovery. 

Alas, nothing he said last night gives the smallest clue of how he will attain this objective !

8 million spectators were scotched to their television sets last night, expecting a raft of measures designed to reverse the Economic Disaster their country is facing !  90 minutes later they suddenly realised the "show" was over !  There were no magic measures !

This morning the first media comments are very unfavourable.   The first hour was spent answering the questions of four individual French citizens for which Hollande had all the detailed answers at his fingertips.  He explained how he had already tried to cover their problem.

The last 30 minutes were designed to find out what changes he and his Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, were intending to introduce during the last half of his mandate as President.  Nothing really new was forthcoming !

France is in an economic mess but nothing new was proposed !  A discussion of the "cause and effect", the "ripple effect", of any new economic options was  avoided. 

The impression now is that Hollande has no idea how to solve current problems ; there will be social unrest in the coming weeks and months as a result !  

There will also be many more acid comments on his Leadership as President !

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Thursday, 6 November 2014

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE : ACCELEREZ LES REFORMES (RAPPEL) !

L'acceleration du calendrier des reformes, c'est ce que les français attendent en priorité de François Hollande. C'est ce que nous réclamions déjà il y a plus de deux mois dans l'article que nous republions ci dessous ! 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

PRESIDENT HOLLANDE : "ACCELEREZ LE CALENDRIER DES REFORMES" !

 
Il y a près de huit mois déjà, le Président de la République annonçait "le Pacte de responsabilité et de solidarité" : moins de charges sur le travail et plus d'embauches.
 
Le choc de simplification également annoncé devrait simplifier la vie des entreprises et faciliter l'embauche. Dans ce cadre, un nouveau principe selon lequel le silence de l'administration vaut acceptation devrait s'appliquer en novembre 2014.

En pratique, tout a été annoncé mais rien n'est encore applicable...

La simplification du Code du Travail, le relèvement des seuils qui dans les entreprises déclenchent des obligations nouvelles et sont souvent un frein à de nouvelles embauches, restent également au nombre des mesures toujours en attente...
 
Le changement de quelques titulaires de portefeuilles ministériels suffira-t-il à accélérer le calendrier ?
 
Trop de temps a déjà été perdu depuis Mai 2012 !
 
DML

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE : THE DOWNFALL OF A PRESIDENT !

President Hollande will be interviewed on the French television channel TF1 by Yves Calvi, a well known and respected political journalist, on Thursday November 6, 2014 at 20.30 CET. 

That day marks the exact mid-point of the 5 year term for which President Hollande was elected in May 2012.  All the Opinion Polls since his election have plunged and have made him the least popular President in living memory ! 
 
The reasons for this predicament will certainly be explained, as well as the changes in Policy which Hollande and his Prime Minister Manuel Valls intend to introduce.  They need to convince and seduce Socialist  voters to survive in future elections in 2017.
 
Yves Calvi will coax Hollande to answer key questions,  but he will also have an invited audience which can  suggest topics to be discussed.  Hollande will certainly   cover the unexpected problems on the International scene, - in Africa, the Middle East, Ukraine... 
 
The French President will use this chance to explain how difficult it is to survive in an ever changing world.  However, he will almost certainly be tempted to enlighten the interview with his wit, for which he is renowned ! 

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Monday, 3 November 2014

HOW CAN AN IMMIGRANT BECOME A MIGRANT ?


The ferocious stand by Angela Merkel and David Cameron on "Immigration or Migration" begs the question whether they both have the same definition of what these two words mean in the context of EU Treaties !

Immigration or immigrant, describes someone who enters a member country of the EU with the intention of staying there.  Short term visits by tourists, diplomats or businessmen cannot be described as "immigration" !

Migration or migrant, describes a person who was born  in, or legally registered as a Resident and Citizen of, a member country of the EU and who then chooses to live or work in another EU member country !  Migration of legally recognised EU citizens is permitted by EU Treaties. 

If these two definitions are basically accepted, disputes and problems arise when the limitation of "Immigration" into the EU, or "Migration" within the EU is discussed ! 

One should not loosely use the words "Immigration" or "Migration" !

Theoretically, if an Immigrant has been registered as a resident of an EU country, he could then migrate to another EU country.  But, some member countries of the EU only want "selected immigrants" to enter their countries !      

Is this not the stumbling block between Mrs Merkel and Mr Cameron ?  To put it another way, she does not want to change EU Treaties, but he does !

Both need to take into account the results of the recent EU Parliamentary elections !  The Electors voted clearly for a limitation of "Immigration", or should one say they prefer "selective immigration" ? 

Changing the Treaties to respect the choice of Voters  will not be easy.  This was explained in the article in this Blog, dated 9 October 2014, entitled "Closing the Frontiers : what this implies". 

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Sunday, 2 November 2014

CARTE NATIONALE D'IDENTITE:QUELLE DUREE DE VALIDITE?

Les cartes nationales d'identité sécurisées délivrées depuis le 1er janvier 2014 ont une durée de validité de 15 ans au lieu de 10 (décret du 18 décembre 2013).

Cette durée de 15 ans s'applique également aux cartes nationales d'identité sécurisées en cours de validité au 1er janvier 2014, c'est à dire délivrées à des personnes majeurs entre le 2 janvier 2004 et le 31 décembre 2013.  La durée de validité de ces cartes est automatiquement prolongée de 5 ans sans qu'il soit besoin de modifier la date de validité inscrite sur le titre.

Mais leur titulaire ne risque-t-il pas d'être refoulé à la frontière en présentant un tel document ?

Pour éviter un tel désagrément, le Ministre de l'Intérieur conseille aux voyageurs de télécharger sur les sites ministériels "diplomatie.gouv.fr" et "intérieur.gouv.fr" un document traduit en plusieurs langues attestant de la validité de leur carte nationale d'identité (réponse du ministre de l'Intérieur à Dominique Le Méner publiée au JO du16 septembre 2014). 
 
 
DML

Saturday, 1 November 2014

EBOLA - IS THE PLAGUE REALLY RECEDING ?

Dr Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organisation (WHO) believes he has evidence which might indicate that the EBOLA plague is receding in West Africa.  He did, however, cover his optimism by saying the problem is still ongoing !

The fact that EBOLA has not been vanquished is now at the crux of the matter !  The WHO must address the problem so as to be better prepared when future outbreaks occur !

Historically the first major outbreak of this desease occurred in Zaïre, in 1976, on the River EBOLA, hence the name !   There have been frequent outbreaks in West and Central Africa on a smaller scale since then.  Various strains of EBOLA have been identified over the years.

What is to be lamented is that there is still no cure or prevention to comabt a plague, even 38 years later !  Has any co-ordinated research ever been undertaken ? 

One cannot blame Pharmaceutical companies for not having a remedy.  Research is financed by products that can be sold on a large scale.  The EBOLA problem is not like the common cold or cancer !  It could, however, become a dangerous plague !

Should the WHO not consider sponsoring research directly in co-ordination with Pharmaceutical Groups worldwide ?  Current WHO efforts to organise the fight against EBOLA are admirable but what is really needed is a cure and an antidote !
                      
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