French CEOs Face Big Pay Cuts Under Hollande Plan

It would be quite ironic and rather fitting if Germany and France fail to ratify the Merkozy treaty. 25 Nations have ratified the treaty but France and Germany still have not. French president Francois Hollande has already threatened non-ratification unless the treaty is revised. The Leader of the Social Democrat Party (SPD)in Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is making similar threats for the first time.

The French government has shied away from calling its 2013 spending plan an austerity budget — instead dubbing it a ”serious budget… and a fighting budget.” With its stated aim to bring down the country’s deficit to 3% of GDP, however, the budget shares the same goals of other deficit-taming austerity measures already in place across the euro zone.   A Tight Deadline  

Housing starts in France will fall to 280,000-300,000 in 2013, the lowest level in 50 years warns developer Nexity. The government wants 500,000 units per year.

The incredibly inept policies of French president Francois Hollande are back in the news. Hollande is following up on his proposal to not let companies fire workers, starting right now with French car maker Peugeot's Plan to Cut 8,000 Jobs, Close Plant An article in El Pais has better details of Hollande's denial of reality than I have found elsewhere.

The BBC reports France's Hollande to lower state pension age to 60 New French president Francois Hollande has unveiled details of a plan to lower the retirement age to 60 for some workers - a key election pledge. His predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, had faced strong opposition when he raised the retirement age by two years to 62. The move in 2010 sparked weeks of strikes across the country, mainly by public service workers.

President Francois Hollande promised Thursday to force French companies to pay a 75% levy on salaries over a €1-million after his plan to tax individuals was rejected as confiscatory by the country’s constitutional court. Mr. Hollande made the surprise announcement in a “moment of truth” television interview he hopes will reverse record low approval ratings for a French head of state.