Word: frenched
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...France from here on out. The law - which supporters hope will go into effect later this year - designates about 500 spots with "tourism interests" that may start doing business on Sundays to exploit the presence of vacationing visitors. It similarly liberalizes trading in border regions where, in some areas, French stores that close one day a week lose out to rivals across the frontier who are allowed to stay open les dimanches...
Sunday shopping a threat to French civilization? If Darcos' assurances sound excessive, they only reflect the resistance his Sarkozy-mandated bill has provoked. Leftists continue to assail its move to undermine a 1907 law prohibiting Sunday trading as only the first step toward the very generalization of travail dominical that Darcos denies. They also vow to challenge the law before France's Constitutional Council on the somewhat ironic grounds that by allowing only some shops to operate Sundays, it violates the rights of employees who may want to work on Sunday but whose shops are not covered by the reform...
France - or at least parts of it - will soon find out. And how will a society famous for being rabidly protective of its leisure time, long vacations and nominal 35-hour workweek respond? Probably with a Gallic shrug. Polls show 55% of French people oppose the law and 42% support it. Still, 40% of respondents say they'd heed a boss's call to work Sunday if it meant making more money, while another 30% say they'd welcome the chance to shop on Sundays. (See pictures of Bastille Day celebrations...
...problem with the French," former U.S. President George W. Bush purportedly once said in a snarl of disgust, "is they have no word for entrepreneur." That quote is probably apocryphal - which is a rather good thing for W. on more than just the linguistic score. French government officials this week reported that the number of new private businesses launched in June set an all-time record. By the end of 2009, they estimate, France will be about half a million new firms better off. In 2008, just 328,000 new firms were created...
...Surging French private enterprise in the middle of the world's worst economic crisis in 50 years? Something's up, right? Indeed there is. The motor driving France's bustling start-up action is an innovation known as the auto-entrepreneur - a government scheme introduced in January to facilitate the formidable process of founding a small business in France. The scheme cuts through the jungle of administrative red tape usually required to launch a company and dramatically lightens the heavy taxes and social charges other companies pay. While regular outfits face set charges whether business is booming or bust, auto...