Think Tank Aims to Raise France's Place as a Leader in Europe

PARIS, February 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Europe United founded the first French Business Dialogue Group (FBDG) think tank and announced today that invites more business leaders to join discussions concerning French business in Europe.

Decisions taken by President Nicolas Sarkozy remain the main topic of the discussions as the results turn out to be failures and ineffective plans that caused both financial and social tensions, think tank members say.

The group is focused on five directions covering Economy, Social affairs, Strategic partners, Country Image and Security in France.

"Germany's GDP growth to 3.7%, against only 1.6% in France also marked losing our place as a leader in Europe due to lack of labour-market reforms that had an impact on its competitiveness. President Sarkozy is also considered responsible for the ineffective reform the pension system, altering the social contract and also raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 without studying the impact on the real economy," said Mr. Michel Constantin, the leader of the dialogue group.

According to think tank members, President Sarkozy is considered unresponsive when dealing with France's traditional relations as he put strains on the Franco-German and Franco-Romanian relations, both stable economic partners of France - both Germany's Angela Merkel and Romania's President Traian Basescu faced Sarkozy's lack of diplomacy when dealing with regional economic and social affairs.

The widely criticized repression on illegal Roma (gypsy) camps is considered an election stunt as Sarkozy seeks a second term in 2012, French businessmen say.

"France is now considered ambiguous by many partners as Sarkozy adopted his security strategy. Decision to build Mistral battle-ships in Russia was only one of the cases that affected French workers," said Constantin while describing security issues. "While promoting openness towards Russia and Iran, with its nuclear ambitions, Sarkozy disabled France to become a credible partner for its allies. The threat of terrorism remains high in France and keeping troops in Afghanistan is considered another decision for spending money with no strategy on the long term," Constantin said.

FBDG is concerned with the fact that France perception worldwide changed during President Sarkozy's mandate affecting indirectly French brands mainly because corruption, mass protests, strikes and extremist attitude towards gypsy and Muslims. The act of forceful regulation on illegal Roma (gypsy) camps put France on the first page of mainstream media as human-rights organizations forwarded thousands of protests.

Think tank members conclude that President Sarkozy lost his connection with the real economy, its traditional partners and the French business interests.

About FBDG Think Tank at Europe United

Europe United is a non-profit organization aiming to develop non-governmental projects that make an impact on the common market. The association offers communication platforms for business groups and studies regarding the economic issues in Europe.

Internet: http://www.europaunita.org .