Agree to reform
The chaotic climbdown by Chirac’s government last week (which saw the youth law passed and repealed within a week), the youth riots and the elusive elections in Italy are all illustrations how real economic reform is needed in Europe. How can the “European Social Model” be working when unemployment is running as high as 10%?
In modern society the legitimacy of government is often dependent on the maintenance of economic growth and job creation (the cliché- “it’s the economy stupid” comes to mind). Of course government should and does encompass more than that, but that is its primary function whether we like it or not. In this circumstance how can we say that we should maintain a social model that results in 22% of young people unemployed in some parts of France?
Yet at the same time the measures needed to sort out the problems are deeply resented by the voters- but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. So what is the solution? One that I came across in this article recently suggests that political parties, knowing that reform was necessary, should accept that it’s going to be unpopular with the people, and that it should expect to be replaced at the next election by a new government that would equally offend voters again by passing even more reforms, and in turn be replaced. This seems the only way that the important and necessary changes will come about.