Ageing and Retirement

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Ageing and Retirement

• Whats the problem?
• There are too many old people and not enough
  young people to support them
• Over a period of nearly 30 years, fertility,
  measured by the total fertility rate, fell
  sharply, dropping from nearly 3 children per
  woman in 1964 to 1.65 in 1994.
• Higher-paid individuals are bothered by the
  strikes people with low incomes dont want to
  have to work for forty years to receive a pension
• France doesnt have enough money to pay all the
  elderly people their pensions with a low birth
  rate and a growing elderly population

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Veil Issue

• In 1989, three girls were kicked out of school
  for wearing veils by the mid-1990s, this issue
  had become so popular that many Muslim women who
  had not previously worn veils began to do so to
  support the rights of those who were asked to
  stop wearing their veils

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Veil Issue, cont.

• Advocates of displaying religious beliefs think
  that the state is wrong for trying to make
  Frenchmen not practice their right to religious
  expression
• Others believe that while it is fine for people
  to have personal beliefs, they should not be
  displayed in anyway publiclyespecially in
  government buildings.

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Immigration

• In 1998, there were about 5 million immigrants in
  France, about 1 million were thought to be
  illegal.
• Many native-Frenchmen do not like the presence of
  the immigrants.

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Algerian residents

• 5.1 million ppl of Algerian descent (4.3 million
  of these are of Algerian Muslim descent) in 1996
• Mostly located in the Île-de-France, Provence,
  Laanguedoc, and Alsace
• Most prominent Algerian-origin community includes
  the Arab and Berber immigrants and their
  descendants

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Jean-Marie Le Pen

• Who is he?
• Born in 1928 in Brittany
• Joined the Foreign Legion in 1954, seeing action
  in Indochina and Algeria
• 1956 became deputy for shopkeepers party of
  Pierre Poujade
• 1965 helped run election campaign of far-right
  candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour
• 1972 set up the National Front

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Le Pen, continued

• Le Pen believes that violence is rampant in the
  suburbs and that the European superstate has
  reduced the French government to a regional
  governorship, and that small businesses are not
  doing as well as they should b/c of larger
  corporations.
• He also believes that North African immigration
  is a threat to French life? with this as a main
  political theme, he increased votes from .74 in
  1974 to 14 in 1988 and 15 in 1995.
• In 1995, 4.5 million people voted for him today
  he has 17 in the polls

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Le Pen Now

• Le Pen is campaigning for
• a. 200,000 new prison places
• b. the abolition of inheritance taxes so small
  businesses can pass from father to son
• c. negotiation of European treaties (European
  Commission and Maastricht treaty). Immigration
  is the biggest issue in his campaign. Le Pen
  feels that unless the issue is dealt with, France
  may be submerged.
• d. Revival of the franc, alongside the euro
• e. Re-creation of trade barriers with EU
  countries
• f. Separation of French families funds from
  those of foreigners
• g. Ban on building of mosques in France
• h. Reintroduction of the death penalty

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European Union

• France put major emphasis on the importance of a
  unified Europe.
• They believed that they would always remain the
  strongest country in the EU with Britain a close
  second.
• Now it appears as though France is losing its
  strong-hold.

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EU

• Citizens are not sure if they like the
  constitution that was written by an
  ultra-conservative.
• Currently, 58 of French voters are unsure how
  they will vote on the referendum.
• The leader of the French Socialists, Laurent
  Fabius, promised to reject the constitution
  because he says it doesnt guarantee enough
  protection or rights to Europes workers. Some
  accuse him of using this issue for personal gain
  to further his profile for the elections in 2007.
  

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EU

• Chirac has called for a referendum on the
  constitution and a separate referendum for the
  issue of Turkey joining the EU so that the two
  subjects dont interfere w/ ea. other.
• Many Frenchmen feel as though they dont know
  enough about the constitution and its
  implications to be able to vote on it.
• Over 2/3 of Frenchmen dont want Turkey to join
  the EU since it would be the first Muslim country
  and it would be one of the poorest and most
  populous countries by the time it would enter the
  EU in about 2015.