France is pursuing a series of ambitious reforms to fix its economic woes and strengthen the struggling European Union, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told a Bay St. crowd on Thursday.
Europe’s second-biggest economy has been teetering in and out of recession after the global collapse in 2008. To the dismay of the EU, the debt-laden French government announced last month it would not meet its promised plan to reduce the deficit by 3 per cent and instead set a 2 per cent target for 2013.
Ayrault, who was appointed by President François Hollande in 2012 to lead the government, put a positive spin on France’s strategy to modernize antiquated labour and public policies while at the same time trimming €60 billion from the budget by 2017.
“France has undertaken a vast set of reforms to get back on the path to growth through a restructured pact between heads of companies, employees and public authorities,” Ayrault said at the Empire Club on his first official visit to Canada.
The French also want the super rich to pay more taxes, a move that caused actor Gerard Depardieu to move to Russia after Hollande unveiled a plan to increase the top rate of income tax in France to 75 per cent for those who earn €1 million or more.
Read more: French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault talks up economy, European Union | Toronto Star
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