Reform or stagnate

France is a warning of how not to run an economy: powerful unions allied to an over-regulating state result in an unemployment rate of nearly 10 per cent. Youth unemployment is over 20 per cent: a consequence of an outdated and anti-competitive labour code squeezing young people out of the market. The code is over 3,000 pages long. Those in work enjoy comfortable protections; those out of work struggle to get on the ladder. The unions that ferociously guard this arrangement are not motivated by solidarity, but what’s in it for them.

After decades of France’s establishment dancing around this problem, the new president, Emmanuel Macron, proposes some light reform: make it easier for companies to negotiate more flexible contracts. There is popular will for change, but it has to be sold carefully. One poll found that nine out of 10 French citizens recognise that the labour code must change, but around 60 per cent were nervous about these particular reforms. The unions will fight back, although two of the largest have said that they won’t take part in protests. On balance, with parliament behind reform, there is reason to hope that Mr Macron will succeed.

What is the alternative? Not only stagnation but a hard-left waiting in the wings. Jean-luc Mélenchon is now considered by many French voters as a viable opposition leader, even though his extreme Marxist ideas would make a bad situation worse. His appeal combines radicalism with conservatism. Those in positions of comfort would prefer elegant decline to unleashing the potential of capitalism. It is a reprehensible attitude that is found among the trade-union dinosaurs in this country, too.