InFocus | France
Vivre la France
With the economy on song, and a new-found confidence among its people, France is seeing better days ahead. Located in Western Europe and slightly bigger than California, France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain.
- By Rajendar Menen, Special to Gulf news
- Published: 00:00 November 25, 2006
- Image Credit:
With the economy on song, and a new-found confidence among its people, France is seeing better days ahead.
It is the world capital of pizzaz. France reinvents fashion, style and the good life with such élan.
Located in Western Europe and slightly bigger than California, France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain. It is also connected to the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel.
Strong growth
Europe's third-largest economy, France has shrugged aside recent economic despondence and civil unrest to expand 1.2 per cent in the second quarter this year - its fastest pace in five and half years.
"France is showing very strong growth figures, consumers are getting more confident, and growth seems ready to continue," notes Joost Beaumont, an economist at Fortis Bank in Amsterdam. Emboldened by the economic surge, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin pledged more than 7 billion euros (Dh32.80 billion) in tax cuts and rebates, and the smallest deficit in six years, when he presented the 2007 budget. An economic recovery, accompanied by a fall in unemployment will also help politically. Real GDP growth is forecast to pick up from 1.2 per cent in 2005 to 2.3 per cent in 2006 before slowing to 1.8 per cent in 2007.
Inflation is expected to have edged up in 2006, but favourable growth indices and a strengthening euro will ensure it remains close to the target of the European Central Bank (ECB). France is expected to post large trade deficits this year and the next, but these will be partly offset by sufficient surpluses on the services and investment income accounts, and the economy is set to propel ahead.
France's economy is expected to expand 2.4 per cent in 2006, the fastest since 2000 and double last year's growth, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Finance Minister Thierry Breton believes the economy will expand as much as 2.5 per cent in 2006 and 2007. To add to the buoyant mood, a recent deal inked between Russia and France will take trade between the two countries to over a whopping $10 billion (Dh36.73 billion) in 2006 with well-endowed spillovers into the next few years. According to Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian government office, "the dynamics of Russian-French trade and economic relations is high". Thierry Breton, French co-chairman of the council and Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, feels that energy, space and aviation will be areas of mutual participation between the two countries. France is also the largest poultry processing centre in Europe, a huge magnet for foreign investment, and as the fifth-largest economy in the world, is getting set to develop itself as the gateway to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
European breadbasket
Essentially an agricultural and heavy industry state, still considered the ‘bread basket' of Europe and the second largest agricultural exporter, France is one of the most advanced economies in terms of transportation, telecommunications and high-tech industries. Its strong economy, political balance, strategic location, high productivity and competitive labour rates make it a popular choice for foreign direct investment. France is a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of La Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, an acknowledged nuclear power, and arguably the most popular international tourist destination in the world making tourism a huge revenue earner.
France has an important aerospace industry led by the European consortium Airbus and has its own national spaceport. It is also the most energy independent Western country thanks to its heavy investment in nuclear power, which also makes it the smallest producer of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialised countries in the world. As a result of large investments in nuclear technology, roughly 77 per cent of France's energy needs are produced from nuclear power plants. Large tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have helped France become the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe. Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and other meats, as well as an internationally recognised foodstuff and wine industry, are primary French agricultural exports.
A seat of culture through the ages, France has been home to Impressionism, Cubism and Surrealism, to Rodin, Monet and Degas, and a feast of artistic and creative talent, such as Picasso, who made it his adopted home. Rodin's Thinker and Monet's Gardens in Giverny are immortal. The famous Bayeux Tapestry on which unfolds the entire story of William the Conqueror and his conquest of England is without parallel. Notre-Dame, the Sacre Coeur at Montmartre, the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, the abbey of Mont-St-Michel that seems to rise dramatically from the sea, the Grande Arche de la Defense and the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris are a few pieces from the wide spread of exquisite architecture that celebrate the cultural freedom of France with such abandon. Well preserved chateaux, living reminders of France's illustrious past, and museums such as the Louvre are testimony to the grandeur of times gone by.
Picturesque and serene
With vineyards in Bordeaux and Burgundy, vast expanses of the Riviera and the cool, mountain air of the Alps, France is picturesque, varied and well endowed with natural beauty. The longest river of France is the Loire, and the Seine runs right through Paris. The craggy cliffs of Brittany, the D-day beaches of Normandy, the rugged coastline and violet waters around the smaller islands of France, the Pyrenees, and the surf-filled Atlantic and the diametrically calm Mediterranean are all famous tourist attractions.
Intoxicating sights
The sights and sounds of France are intoxicating. To the west of Paris, the capital city, which stimulates the senses with so much ardour and draws a record number of tourists every year, is the town of Chartres known for the beautiful French cathedral of Notre-Dame, and Versailles for the massive palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV. On the northwest is Rouen where Monet painted the enchanting cathedral several times over.The bubbly never stops flowing in Champagne, and to its north is Flanders where beer seems to flow for ever.
The Loire Valley and the Normandy beaches are some of France's finest natural attractions. Nantes is renowned for its year-round festivals and nightlife. Bordeaux, put on the world map for its wine, has an emerald-like quality, covered as it is, with its vineyards. Lyon is known for its gastronomic delights. Provence is dreamlike with limestone hills and fields with rows of lavender. Avignon, the scene of artistic activity and the seat of the Popes for many centuries, retains much of its former glory in its immaculately maintained medieval streets, monuments and museums. To the south is the French Riviera with its stunning beaches and translucent, uniquely coloured water. There is no dearth of entertainment either. France seems to be in fun mode throughout the year through with festivals, military parades, fireworks and competitions. Street musicians, historic operas, and a mind-boggling variety of casinos, nightclubs, cabarets and discotheques are strewn all over, making France a veritable smorgasbord of fun, frolic and festivity.
Thanks to the varied topography of France, from gentle rolling hills and meadows to more strenuous slopes, hiking is a national pastime. The main routes traverse the Alps, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Cycling is also very popular (who hasn't heard of the Tour de France), with La Margeride in Languedoc, the Alps, Brittany and the Pyrenees particularly suited to mountain biking. Skiing facilities are spread over some of Europe's finest and most expensive resorts such as the Chamonix to more affordable ones popular with students and beginners such as Val d' Issar in the Alps and other resorts in the Pyrenees, around Cauterets and the Massif Central. The Mediterranean and Brittany coasts are pristine swimming venues.
Other attractions include the prêt à porter fashion show in Paris, the world-famous Cannes Film Festival, a colourful gypsy festival honouring Sarah, patron saint of the gypsies, Bastille Day on July 14 with fireworks and parades held throughout the country, the frenzied Tour de France in Nice with music, parades and wine-tasting as its main attractions, grand carnivals in Nice and Nantes, the international Music Festival in Strasbourg in June; the fete du cinema in summer, the Jazz Festival in Nancy, and the mainstream and fringe theatre of the Festival d'Avignon.
Literary history
French literary history dazzles with a galaxy of litterateurs such as de Balzac, Dumas, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Hugo, Zola, Proust and Camus. Rousseau, Voltaire, Sartre and Derrida, Lacan, Althusser and Foucault, the feminist writer de Beauvoir, and numerous filmmakers, philosophers, psychoanalysts and post-structuralists have given France a reputation for being one of the great intellectual vaults of Europe.
Winner of the 1998 football World Cup and runner-up in 2006, France has also won Euro 1984 and Euro 2000. It is the only country to have finished first, second and third at both the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Vivre la France!
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