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Article: FRENCH REVOLUTION: France is booming, but strikes are spoiling the party FRENCH REVOLUTION: Is it a tiger, or a dinosaur? As the rocket- fuelled economy soars, teachers and tax inspectors are taking industrial action
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- March 16, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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FRANCE IS booming. It was announced yesterday that risk
investment, mostly in hi-tech start-ups, tripled in France last year,
the biggest increase of any large country in the world.
But France is grumbling. Tens of thousands of teachers and tax
inspectors will take to the streets in Paris and other cities today,
complaining about modest efforts by the government to streamline the
sprawling state apparatus.
What kind of animal lives next door to us? Is France an economic
tiger or an immobile, strike-happy dinosaur? The figures this week
showing the size of the British economy overtaking the French for the
first time since 1962 are mostly a misleading book-keeping exercise,
based on the low ...