French Exodus

Hoje, ao final da tarde, ao chegar a casa, encontrei na caixa do correio mais um número da revista TIME.

A capa chamou-me logo a atenção: "The French Exodus (Europe)"
By PETER GUMBEL, Why a growing number of talented and ambitious young people are leaving France behind.

Alguns trechos desse artigo deviam fazer com que muito mais gente pensasse:

"an estimated 2.2 million French citizens, about 4% of the population, who have joined a wave of emigration. According to the Foreign Ministry, there has been a 40% increase in the number of those registering at French consulates abroad since 1995. "

""France is like an old lady. It is paralyzed by the fear of what it could lose.""

"Ségolène Royal wants to hand out $13,000 interest-free loans to aspiring entrepreneurs, and says she will create 500,000 state-funded jobs to get young people into the workforce." Caso para dizer, they just don't get it.

"The French diaspora isn't waiting. Emigrés are voting with their feet, and that has turned them into an election issue"

"Royal's Socialist Party briefly mooted whether to institute a tax on French who move abroad, but soon dropped the idea" ???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"More than 7% of French university graduates in their late 20s are unemployed — one of the worst records in the European Union and about 50% higher than the E.U. average. Moreover, many of the jobs that are available to young people, even highly skilled ones, tend to be short-term and poorly paid. That's a consequence of a skewed labor market, which provides so much protection to full-time employees that firms are reluctant to hire people for anything other than temporary positions. "