Word: reformations
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...Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) a to a record majority in parliament. The Socialist Party (PS) blunted Sarkozy's expected tidal wave victory with a better than expected showing. Still, with conservatives dominating the presidency, legislature and government - and given Sarkozy's promise to swiftly push through sweeping reform - there's little doubt French society will soon will be prodded to a depth and degree of change it's never seen before. The question now is whether the Socialists can demonstrate enough opposition in parliament to mobilize France's notoriously militant street protesters to derail Sarkozy's reform efforts...
...Greens and Communists wilted to around a collective 23, the overall result handed the opposition 227 seats. Sarkozy's Prime Minister Francois Fillon sought to put the Socialists' good showing in perspective. "The choice of voters has been clear and coherent in supporting the President and his application of reforms. Success of one side isn't defeat of the other, and we are obliged to take into account the wishes of voters who didn't back the President. [But] we won't wait any longer on the reforms the French want, and we will reform and innovate...
Many observers believe Sarkozy's first reform will be to keep his promise to "restore the value of work" - which will probably mean encouraging people, perhaps by way of legal subsidies, to work beyond France's controversial legal limit of 35 hours per week. He's also likely to propose a series of credits or tax reductions to allow people to hold on to earnings. He is also likely to find savings in social services to cut France's spiraling public debt. Another area where Sarkozy is expected to act quickly - perhaps in July - is with a series of measures...
...Sarkozy's election [in May] has made it clear that the majority of French voters not only want but expect reform and change," says political analyst Alain Duhamel. "They gave Jacques Chirac that same mandate and a parliamentary majority that was, back in 2002, considered massive, but he ended up putting reform on hold and backing away from the protests it caused. Sarkozy's main characteristic is action, and he'll move quick to distinguish himself from Chirac by delivering what he has promised...
Studies of young criminals have found that more than 70% of all juveniles in state reform institutions come from fatherless homes. Children from broken families are nearly twice as likely as those in two-parent families to drop out of high school. After assessing the studies, economist Sylvia Hewlett suggested that "school failure may well have as much to do with disintegration of families as with the quality of schools...