Without deep reform France will be unable to boost growth and fund its social security safety net, President Nicolas Sarkozy said today when he unveiled measures to trim French bureaucracy.
Mr Sarkozy told senior ministers and officials the almost 100 measures would cut the number of civil servants but those who remained would have better pay, conditions and career prospects. France spends €1,000 billion a year on its public administration, Mr Sarkozy said.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with Spain's King Juan Carlos as he leaves the Elysee Palace after a lunch meeting in Paris today
That would fall to €850 billion if France spent the same share of national wealth on running itself as Germany, its main trading partner.
"Without a reduction in the weight of our public spending, we won't be able to find the point of growth that we are missing," Mr Sarkozy said. "We won't be able to maintain our social solidarity system ... we won't be able to finance investments in the future."
France needs decent growth if it is to fulfil pledges to the European Union to balance its budget and reduce its debt. During this year's election campaign, Mr Sarkozy said his reforms aimed to boost France's long-term growth average by around one percentage point.
Mr Sarkozy repeated his plan to replace only one retiring civil servant in two. "I want to tell civil servants they can have confidence in the reform of the state. They will be the big winners of this reform. There will be fewer of them, better paid, their working conditions improved and career prospects richer," he said.
One proposal is to streamline the issuing of identity cards, passports and drivers' licences by making the documents available at local town halls rather than government offices.
On taking office in May Mr Sarkozy said he would merge the tax levying and collection services, and unemployment benefit and employment exchanges to boost efficiency and savings. This week the Defence Ministry said it planned to house all military commands in a single new site in southwestern Paris and sell off their prime real estate in the centre of the capital.