Lazy French days

Oh to be in France

Charles Bremner describes the situation that Nicholas Sarkozy is up againstwhen trying to instill a work ethic on the French people.Remember that he was elected on the promise of getting the workforce to work longer hours

President Sarkozy may preach the doctrine of "working more to earn more", but his country has seized the chance to enjoy what the headline in le Parisien newspaper called "Five days of happiness". The long spring break has been made possible by the lucky timing of two public holidays for the nation that already enjoys more vacation days than any other. Last Thursday, May 8, was the holiday marking victory in World War Two and today is Pentecost (Whitsun in Britain). Friday was supposed to be a working day but schools in the Paris area and many other regions stayed shut -- so people took the day off, enjoying what is known as le pont, or bridge.
Many even managed nearly 10 days because there was another unofficial pont on Friday May 2, after the May Day holiday fell on a Thursday. Half of France either took that Friday or last Friday or both, according to a poll.

As Charles points out

Each unofficial day off costs the economy about 1.8 billion euros, according to the experts. If France worked as much as the British, they would add about one percent to gross domestic product, they say