TRIERWEILER'S TWEET

Tweetweilergate

Valérie Trierweiler, President Hollande's partner, has created a political storm at a delicate time for the socialist party which is currently trying to obtain a parliamentary majority in the on-going legislative elections that will be decided on Sunday, June 17th. Ségolène Royal, Hollande's ex and mother of his four children, is running for re-election in the district of Poitou-Charentes where she faces a rival from her own socialist camp: Olivier Falorni. The first round was won by Royal with 32% against 29% for Falorni, but when party leaders asked him to step aside in favor of Royal he refused. The losing center-right candidate in this three-way contest has now given her backing to Falorni, which makes a win by Royal in the second round very difficult. In this context, president Hollande gave his public support to Ségolène Royal (who had been an unfailing supporter in his run for the presidency) but within hours a reportedly furious Valérie sent out a Twitter message supporting Ségolène's rival Olivier Falorni.

The players: Trierweiler, Falorni, Royal, Hollande

The left-wing daily Libération published a picture of Trierweiler under the heading "France's First Gaffe" while others questioned the "normalcy" of François Hollande who finds himself embroiled in a far from normal situation that can only have a negative impact on his image.

The Right is making the most of the situation, sniggering about The War of the Roses and Vaudeville coming to the Elysée, while Le Figaro states that Trierweiler's tweet has sown amazement and confusion in the socialist ranks with possibly "heavy consequences." But at the socialist party nobody is laughing. So far no official comment from Ségolène Royal other than that she wants to keep the focus on her campaign, and nervous silence from the Elysée. Barely one month into his presidency, Hollande is facing his first crisis − one not resulting from political and financial problems in the Euro-zone or beyond, but from a nasty domestic spat.

There is much at stake for Ségolène Royal who, after her presumed victory in the parliamentary elections, was promised the job of Président de l'Assemblée Générale (Speaker of the House). Her chances to get that position may have been seriously damaged. The latest polls today, June 13, indicate that Falorni has taken the lead from Royal and is currently set to beat her with 58% to her 42%.

Hold your breath until Sunday.

PEOPLE, AUTHORS, ARCHEOLOGICAL FINDS, ETC.

PEOPLE 

Valérie Trierweiler, 

domestic partner of French President François Hollande, will continue to work as a journalist for Paris Match magazine but will switch from political reporting to covering Art and Culture. In a little dig at her critics she opened her first article, a book review of "Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady and Rebel" by stating: "How about that? A journalist First Lady is nothing new!" pointing out that Eleanor Roosevelt, mother of six, had written freelance articles for a number of publications before beginning her daily syndicated newspaper column on life at the White House, which she continued writing until her death. Clearly identifying herself with Eleanor Roosevelt, Trierweiler goes on to say that Franklin Roosevelt's wife had an independent nature and allowed herself to disagree with her husband on certain issues. In an interview with a fellow journalist, Trierweiler has also said: "As a mother of three, my job is vitally important to me. I have to earn a living and, besides, it's a form of normality."

The couple Strauss-Kahn

As former IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn continues to battle his legal problems in France and the United States, a book has just been published (8 June 2012) about the private life of DSK and his wife, journalist Anne Sinclair. Titled Les Strauss-Kahn and written by two female journalists of the newspaper Le Monde, the book reveals that on a personal level Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Nicolas Sarkozy were closer than generally known. They shared a number of wealthy friends from the business world and from both sides of the political spectrum, and frequented each other's homes from time to time. Nevertheless, Sarkozy knew all the rumors about DSK's sexual exploits and was kept well informed by police sources of his regular visits to Parisian sex clubs as well as an incident in a steamed-up car in the Bois de Boulogne containing DSK and several partners. These reports were carefully kept under wraps but the decision was made to send high-risk Strauss-Kahn off to the IMF in Washington and away from the political fray in France for a while, reportedly with a warning from l'Ami Sarkozy to watch his ways because "Americans won't go for this."

Sarkozy as well as many other political figures in France were convinced that DSK's womanizing and his libertine lifestyle would stand in the way of his ever being elected as president of France in spite of his obvious professional qualities. One commentator compared Les Strauss-Kahn to Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities, the story of the fall of another Master of the Universe.

AUTHORS

I just attended a conference and book signing by Douglas Kennedy, successful American novelist, at my favorite English bookstore in Aix-en-Provence. As book signings go, this was a mob scene. Kennedy is an engaging speaker in English as well as French, and the fact that his novels were available in both English and French surely contributed to this success. Interestingly, the crowd was about evenly divided between youngsters and retirees, who all patiently waited in line to have their copy signed − a hopeful sign that not all young people have succumbed to the mania of reading only ebooks. 

Two weeks ago this same bookstore welcomed Canadian author Joseph Boyden, one of my favorite young writers (check out his "Three Day Road"- beautiful!). I had met him two years ago at a literary festival in the village of Fuveau near Aix where a French publishing house hosted its authors under the banner of "American contemporary literature" but exclusively in the French translation. During interviews, Boyden, Marilynne Robinson, A.M Holmes and other invited authors were assisted by a French interpreter, but at the author table seated behind piles of their books with unfamiliar French titles they were sometimes heard to ask: "Which one is that? Oh, the blue one" before signing a particular book. No such problems at his book signing in Aix. 

MORE ARCHEOLOGICAL FINDS IN MARSEILLES

Sarcophagi in Marseilles

When digging the excavation for the foundation of an apartment and office complex in the center of Marseilles earlier this year, the builder uncovered between six and eight tombs, one child-sized and the others over six feet long, which were thought to be of Greek origin. Scientists, who suspect but have yet to confirm that these are indeed Greek tombs dating from the 4th and 5th century BC, have expressed their surprise at the location of the find. According to one archeological expert: "Cemeteries were usually located outside the cities, which makes this discovery extremely interesting in the context of what we know about the Greek occupation of the area at the time. We may have to revise our map." Whatever the final outcome, these sarcophagi are similar to some found in nearby areas, with funerary urns and ashes inside, and as such are a major discovery.

LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS


Today, June 10th, is the first round of the 2-round legislative elections in France, where the socialist government of François Hollande hopes to gain a majority in Parliament. He will most certainly need that to push through a number of the reforms he has announced with as yet unspecified funding. The next round will take place on June 17th. Stay tuned...

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

IT RAINED ON HIS PARADE...

May 15, 2012 was a memorable day here. On that day François Hollande was sworn in as the new president of France. After a brief ceremony at the Elysée Palace where outgoing president Sarkozy "handed over the keys" to François Hollande, the new president took place in an open-roofed car and, accompanied by the Garde Républicaine on horseback, left with his motorcade for the traditional Défilé sur les Champs Elysées to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. Dressed in a dark suit and without overcoat, Hollande was standing up in the presidential car to receive the acclamations of an enthusiastic crowd. It was impressive, it was colorful, it was perfect until it started raining. As umbrellas went up everywhere, Hollande stayed upright and continued to wave until he was completely soaked. Dripping wet he laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe, then returned to the Elysée for a celebratory lunch and a change of clothes.

President Hollande during inaugural parade

Later that afternoon, he flew to Berlin through stormy skies and his presidential plane was hit by lightning. The pilot decided to return to Paris where the presidential party changed planes and took off again, arriving in Berlin with an hour's delay. There, Chancellor Merkel received President Hollande with all due pomp and circumstance, including the inspection of troops and a slow walk down the red carpet in a driving rain. Another soak and another change of suits before their meeting and the official dinner.

Hollande with Merkel in Berlin

Was this an auspicious beginning (Marriage pluvieux, marriage heureux)? Or a Wagnerian sendoff with thunder and lightning and the Teutonic menace of bad things to come? Stay tuned.

 

THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

As always, the Cannes film festival (May 16-27) had its memorable moments but this year was mostly marked by rain. Torrential rain, in fact, like the cloudburst on May 20th just at the time the stars arrived for their famous Montée des Marches and the long walk down the red carpet into the theatre. As it happens, these were the stars of the movie "Amour" by Austrian director Michael Haneke which ended up winning the Palme d'Or this year:  Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emanuelle Riva (both in their eighties) and Isabelle Huppert.

Despite repeated sweeping, the red carpet was a spongy mess, but - noblesse oblige - the stars did their professional best to keep smiling and posing for the hordes of photographers and trying to keep their windswept hair out of their eyes. When she got to the top of the stairs, Isabelle Huppert, her beautiful evening dress streaked with rain, shook herself like a dog and tried to lift the wet hair from her forehead and fluff it back into the expensive natural look a hairdresser had labored over just hours ago. A moving Jean-Louis Trintignant, much aged since the murder of his actress daughter Marie Trintignant a few years ago, looked fragile and windblown as he shuffled to his seat on the arm of Isabelle Huppert. 

And the winner is...

Outside the Palais du Festival the mood was down. The recent excessive rains had washed away whole chunks of beach and with it such commercial activity as lounge chair and parasol rentals, etc. Except for brief spells of intermittent sunshine, this year's festival was a washout for the beach merchants.

And that was not all...
As thunderous clouds hung over the Cannes closing ceremony, a violent hailstorm severely damaged nearly 6000 hectares of vineyards around Brignolles, some 60 miles away in the Var region. The size and weight of the hail stones were such that most of the young shoots and their barely budding grapes were knocked off the vines, destroying from 60 to 100 percent of this year's harvest in the area.

Is there any bright spot in this picture? Perhaps the fact that the threat of drought that everyone was talking about a few months ago has been averted. The groundwater level which was dangerously low in many parts of France earlier this year, seems to have been restored to healthy levels and the threat of dry swimming pools this summer eliminated. Ouf.

LEFT TURN, THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Hello again or Re-bonjour!  We're back from gone (Washington-Buenos Aires-Montevideo-Rio de Janeiro-New York), where we found family and friends in great shape and discovered the wonderful world of Inhotim in Brazil. Located in the province of Minas Gerais not far from Belo Horizonte, it is a magnificent natural park and art center that deserves a separate write-up some day but this link to INHOTIM will have to do for now.

A TURN TO THE LEFT

Back in France, the world seems to have stopped at the French presidential elections and, as it turned out, a change of government from la droite of Nicolas Sarkozy (tax breaks for the rich, cutbacks of public services, and austerity measures à la Angela Merkel to save the Euro) to the socialism of François Hollande. This was a people's vote of hope that Hollande will bring more tax equity to the equation (he announced a 75% income tax rate for millionaires), restore some of the cutbacks and preserve the generous government-guaranteed benefits that French workers enjoy. He had promised parity, and his new government immediately named a cabinet of 34 ministers: 17 women and 17 men. He also announced an increase in the budgets for Education and Research and Development which had suffered cutbacks under Sarkozy, and right after the inaugural ceremonies he took off for Berlin to discuss with Chancellor Angela Merkel a way to foster growth in the midst of imposed austerity. The big unknown is how he will pay for all of this.

Many in his new Cabinet are young (thirties and forties) and Hollande himself, who has never been minister, has no international experience. Whether "new blood" will be a help or a hindrance remains to be seen, but the upcoming legislative elections on June 10 and 17, where all 577 seats in the General Assembly are contested and where the socialists hope to wrest away the majority that is currently held by the right, will be crucially important.

The eyes of the world are on this new, untested, political figure who calls himself a Normal Man, a man of the people as opposed to a man of the elite. One person who described him as such is the new woman at his side, his "compagne" Valérie Trierweiler, former journalist for the French magazine Paris Match. She has accompanied Hollande on his recent trip to Washington and Chicago, where she may have given the protocol people a headache as the twice-divorced unmarried partner of a sitting president. What to call her: First Lady? First Girlfriend? First Partner? As expected, the French have not made an issue of this. After all, Hollande is the father of the four children of Ségolène Royal, his fellow socialist and one-time presidential candidate, whom he never married as both considered marriage a bourgeois institution.

Couple Hollande-Trierweiler

Will there be a Monsieur et Madame Hollande in the presidential palace?  It is not expected that Hollande will change his mind about the bourgeois nature of marriage at this stage of the game. And Trierweiler has already indicated that she does not intend to live in the Elysée, preferring the modest Ikea-furnished apartment she has been sharing with Hollande for the past five years in the 15th arrondisssement in Paris. Even Nicolas Sarkozy who did not disdain a certain amount of glitter preferred the spacious private residence of his wife Carla Bruni Sarkozy in the rich 16th arrondissement over the presidential apartment in the Elysée. The French security services will probably have the final word on the un-official presidential residence, but the definition of a "normal man" may not be quite the same once this not-so-normal couple will begin life in the public eye.

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

In France, the month of May has four official holidays:  May 1st (Labor Day), May 8 (World War II Victory Day), May 17 (Ascension Day), and May 28 (Whit Monday). This year's Ascension Day, a Catholic feast that is celebrated as a national holiday in this lay country, falls on Thursday May 17th, which means that most French working people will take off Friday in order to end up with four consecutive non-working days. This is called faire le pont -- throwing a bridge from one non-working day to another. May 1 and May 8 fell on a Tuesday, which means people "made the bridge" and took Monday off. If the average 30-day month would leave 22 working days (30 minus 8 week-end days), the month of May and its "bridges" usually leaves only 18 working days, something to remember when you plan to move or need some real work done.

Also know that the French leave their homes en masse for short or long holidays. A four-day break, for instance, would call for a quick package tour to a nearby place in the sun (e.g. Morocco, Tunisia), or a trip south to the Alps or the Mediterranean beaches -- the latter usually by car. And car travel means adding extra time for the road which, of course, is taken at the front end of the holiday, explaining that on the Wednesday before Ascension Day, the morning news's traffic report warned of long lines of cars clogging the southbound exits of Paris, and warning of long delays later in the day at toll stations around Dijon, Lyon etc. The four-day break somehow turned into a five-day leave. Call it Cartesian.

If the average American employee might think twice about taking some of his 2 or 3-week annual leave time to create long weekends, French employees have no such qualms since every one of them has a minimum of five weeks paid vacation. But thanks to the 35-hour work week, they won't even have to touch this vacation time since many of them also have RTT: Récupération du Temps de Travail. When the 35-hour workweek was introduced many years ago it sought to alleviate the unemployment problem by distributing the workload over more people. Those who had been working a 39-hour week would now work only 35 hours. If, however, those workers were asked to work more than the allowed 35 hours, the extra hours would be compensated with earned time off. In certain sectors (e.g. hospitals) this "recuperated time" can easily grow to annual RTT of several weeks or even more and may have to be paid out. But most employees are happy to use their days of RTT to "make the bridge" repeatedly without touching their holiday time. 

The government of former president Sarkozy has made a number of attempts to do away with the 35-hour workweek but always met with great resistance. Socialist president Hollande will surely try to maintain the shortened workweek but will have to solve some sticky problems for which no solutions have been found so far. Meanwhile, France remains one of the best places to work -- as long as you are not an employer. 

DSK, CURTIS ROOSEVELT, HAPPY EASTER

DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN  -  AGAIN

Dominique Strauss-Kahn cannot seem to stay out of the news. For the past few days radio, television and newspapers have covered - ad nauseam - his latest troubles with the law which, in fact, are not new but simply the progression of his legal cases in France and the United States, i.e. his involvement in the "Carlton Affair" in Lille and the civil lawsuit in New York filed by hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo for an alleged rape attempt.

After a hearing in Lille on March 26th - two days earlier than previously announced to avoid the media circus that had made the first hearing so difficult - DSK now stands charged with "aggravated pimping" which carries a potential sentence of 20 years in prison. During this second hearing DSK admitted to attending "libertine parties" but still maintained that he did not know that the participating women were paid prostitutes. The investigating judges seem to have rejected that argument, based on a number of text messages between DSK and those who supplied the girls. After posting 100,000 euros bail, DSK was free to go until further notice.

Meanwhile, in New York City the civil suit against him was certainly aggravated by the French charges and DSK's lawyers have announced they will plead diplomatic immunity as their defense. A large amount of money will probably settle this case which, nevertheless, may take up to two years before it's concluded.

After the shock of the perp walk and Ryker's Island last year, which the French witnessed with horror and denunciations of the savagery and brutality of the American judicial system, today the mood in France has turned against DSK. This time there seems to be a merciless attempt to do irreparable damage. The usual scenario - he did wrong, he'll pay the price, end of story - does not apply here as it did for Bill Clinton, Elliott Spitzer and numerous others. Puritan America is less quick to forgive sexual misconduct than France or Italy where this may draw a slap on the wrist and a wink from the judge ("Don't do this again, you lucky bastard"). Remember that the French press knew of President Mittérand's mistress and illegitimate daughter, but out of respect for the man and his position never breathed a word of it until after his death. All the more surprising then that the respected French newspaper Le Monde - a real opinion maker and as far from the gutter press as you can get - has just leaked the transcript of DSK's first hearing in Lille, including the denigrating terms he used to describe women. It seems sensationalist and unnecessary - the man is down and out, and kicking him now borders on the bloodthirsty. Wherever he is headed - to prison, surely to banishment for life from the French political scene where as little as a year ago he seemed poised to become the next French president - this broken man should be allowed to disappear quietly and walk the path to his personal hell without the vengeful clamor in the media today.   

CURTIS ROOSEVELT

Curtis Roosevelt, 82-year old grandson of Franklin and Eleanor, lives in a hamlet in southern France where he settled 13 years ago. This tiny village may be sleepy but Curtis is not. He writes chronicles for the Huffington Post and has now joined a collective named Roosevelt 2012 together with other old agitators like 94-year old Stéphane Hessel (known for his phenominally successful pamphlet-length book Time for Outrage, published at age 92), 90-year old French philosopher and sociologist Edgar Morin, and 81-year old Michel Rocard, member of the European Parliament and former socialist Prime Minister of France.    

Curtis Roosevelt

Their objective is to "snap at the heels" of the candidates in the current French presidential race, to raise their awareness of the similarities of today's problems with those of the Great Depression of 1933, and to urge immediate action. They want socialist candidate François Hollande to beat incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, but only if he commits to fulfilling within the first three months of his presidency the 15 conditions they outlined in a little booklet that came out on March 28, 2012 entitled C'est plus grave que ce qu'on vous dit... Mais on peut s'en sortir ("It's worse than you've been told, but we can beat it"). Written by Roosevelt 2012 member Pierre Larrouturou, the economist of the group, it pleads for a re-start of the economy by means of certain fiscal measures that were used successfully by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his New Deal.

When not engaged in politics, Curtis Roosevelt has been involved in the preparation of the French edition of his autobiography "Too Close to the Sun" which is scheduled to appear in September 2012.

In his quiet corner between Nîmes and Avignon, he enjoys buying fresh products at the village market where everyone calls him "Curtis" and where - in spite of his poor French - the local people have come to understand and enjoy this kind American who orders his fish "saignant" and who professes a great appreciation for "la table et le fun." "Like my grandfather Franklin," he says.

HAPPY EASTER!

This time I'm really off and away for a month. But before leaving I'll share with you an unusual Easter card I received from an Italian friend. With all due apologies to those who believed Easter eggs came from the bells of Rome, I wish you all a Happy Easter.

See you again in May.

Correction, Driver's License Trouble, More Bombs in Marseilles, François Hollande

CORRECTION

In the Vacation Bound item of my last posting, I mentioned that in spite of the financial crisis 53% of all French people have plans to take at least a one-week vacation away from home this year. That should have been 67% - fully two-thirds - of all French, as confirmed by Protourisme at the recent Salon Mondial du Tourisme in Paris. The same source announced that nearly 80 million foreign tourists are expected to visit France in 2012, over 3% more than in 2010.

DRIVER'S LICENSE TROUBLE (*)

In Lyons the driving inspectors have decided to strike for a wage increase after negotiations with the government broke down. This is expected to delay between 1000 and 2000 driving tests, a nuisance we have experienced ourselves a number of years ago when inspectors in Aix-en-Provence struck in protest against aggressions by students they had failed. At that time, test results were given right away but today they are announced by mail. Driving tests are more difficult here than in the United States and many applicants fail at least once or twice. Depending on the time of year, getting a new test lined up can take months so an inspectors' strike is a big deal. One consolation is that you'll go through this misery only once since a French driver's license is issued for life!


MORE BOMBS IN MARSEILLES

Bomb with embedded jackhammer

After a major bomb scare in January which required 4300 people to be evacuated, another bomb was found in Marseilles when a heavy road drill accidentally pierced a World War II bomb, this time of German origin, and partially set it off. Miraculously, the explosion caused only two minor injuries but removing the damaged bomb with its 650 kilos of explosives and the drill head still inside posed a challenge. About 1500 people were evacuated during the removal operation in the Joliette neighborhood where the bomb was found. Luckily, Joliette consists mostly of office buildings including the impressive new headquarters of shipping giant CMA-CGM, a 142-meter glass tower designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. Had the full charge of the bomb exploded, experts say, it would have flattened two city blocks.  

Hadid-designed headquarters

The port of Marseilles was heavily bombed during World War II, and with more construction work going on around the port area in preparation of next year's 2013 Cultural Capital of Europe celebrations, there is some fear that this may not be the last bomb to be discovered. On the other hand, since the end of the second world war much construction has taken place in France's second-largest city, including a metro in 1977, without a single bomb scare.  

HOLLANDE DRAWS PEOPLE

During this presidential election campaign a newspaper headline: "François Hollande s'entoure de people" seems unremarkable enough. But those among you who do not speak Franglais might have concluded that François Hollande attracted people, which is the least one might expect from a presidential candidate. Things become more interesting when you know that "people" in France has acquired the specific meaning of "famous people," or "stars." Pronounced peepull (rhymes with dull) and sometimes spelled "pipole" in the French press, this new word has the peculiarity of always being used in the singular, as in "un people" for "a famous person" or "la presse people" for tabloid press or gossipy magazines with lots of pictures, like our People magazine. In Hollande's case, the term referred to some of the well-known people who appeared at his side during the recent Salon du Livre in Paris, such as Alexis Jenni, recent winner of the Prix Goncourt (equivalent of our National Book Award), Stéphane Hessel, and Jeanne Moreau. It was an occasion for Hollande to announce that, if elected, he would reduce the value-added tax on books from 7% to 5.5% and regulate the leases on inner-city bookstores to allow them to stay in town.   

   

(*)  Check out Taking Root in Provence for driving license requirements in France and for the joys of Franglais; click here.

Ethylotest, Getting Nasty, Exception Marseillaise, Vacation Bound

ETHYLOTEST

The French government has announced that from July 1, 2012 on, every automobile in France must be equipped with an Ethylotest, a device that measures the alcohol content in the blood of the driver. Motorcycle drivers too will have to have this breathalizer bag on board. Those caught driving without it will be fined 11 Euros. Bars and night clubs serving alcohol have been obliged to carry breathalizers of one sort or another since last November, but this rule has now been extended to all drivers. In France, 31% of all fatal accidents are alcohol related, and Nicolas Sarkozy is counting on the breathalizer to help him reach his target of 3000 road fatalities this year − down from nearly 4000 in 2011. For good measure, he is adding 400 fixed radars to the existing 2500 along French roads this year.


GETTING NASTY

Nerves are beginning to fray as the French presidential campaign enters the final stretch before the election on April 22 and May 6 (runoff). In one of his televised interviews incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy called his main rival, Socialist François Hollande, a liar: "He lies from morning to night" he said − rather unusual in France where political pronouncements and stump speeches may be brutally attacked but not a candidate's character. Ever since his election in 2007, when he celebrated his victory at a fancy Paris restaurant with rich friends, followed by a vacation on a wealthy friend's yacht, Sarkozy has been perceived as a "president of the rich." Despite some awkward apologies for poor judgment and a back-breaking schedule of "meet-the-people" campaign stops, he has not been able to shake this image and the wear and tear shows when he tells a hackler to "get lost" and gets visibly irritated during TV interviews.

Sarkozy and Hollande

The three main contenders − Sarkozy (centre-right), François Hollande (left) and Marie Le Pen (extreme right) − have been slugging it out in the public arena but so far without facing each other. After weeks of trailing Hollande in the polls, Sarkozy has begun to move increasingly to the right and is making a shameless play for the constituency of Marie Le Pen. "We have too many foreigners in France" and "I want to cut immigration in half" are his new themes, as well as the promise of a Made-in-France or at least Made-in-Europe policy like president Obama's Buy American Act to keep French factories running. It did boost his score and the latest polls now put him slightly ahead of Hollande. Both camps are on high alert and this race promises to be tight until the very end.


EXCEPTION MARSEILLAISE

There has been much talk lately about the unusual work contract of the municipal garbage men in Marseilles. This contract calls for 7 hours work per day for 5 days a week with the specificity that those who can get their work done faster can leave as soon as the job is done (and, often, go on to another job). Result: the garbage collectors of Marseilles manage to do their rounds so fast that they work an average of 3.5 hours a day for 7 hours of pay. This is locally referred to as "Fini-Parti" (loosely translated as "Done-Gone") and is perfectly legal. Problem is that the flying cleaning squad does not seem to do a very thorough job of it and that Marseilles is today the dirtiest city in France and, according to local journalist and author Hugues Serraf, pays the highest cost per inhabitant for garbage collection. It also has a history of frequent strikes and strong-arm tactics in wage negotiations. We remember 2007 when Marseilles was one of the four candidates proposed by Switzerland, winner of the previous Cup, to host the America's Cup sailing competition. A well-timed week-long garbage strike in mid summer offered the Swiss selection committee a smelly and unsightly welcome that quickly led to the choice of Valencia as host city.

Garbage strike in Marseilles

So far, no mayor has dared go against the garbage workers' strong union (Force Ouvrière), and when a courageous citizen recently filed a petition in court for a "return to normal" he lost against the legal argument that the "fini-parti" is normal since it is a "historic custom that cannot be abrogated" (even though the judge promised to make a final ruling at a later date). The popular Marseilles-based TV series "Plus Belle La Vie" has already been renamed "Poubelle La Ville" by some. One fears for 2013 when Marseilles will be the Cultural Capital of Europe.

A citizens' group has now created a blog with a plea to end the "fini-parti" and it is producing results. A new gadget will soon be introduced that is able to track the working hours and the movement of each Dumpster in town. Called a chronotachygraphe, this device is expected to demonstrate the failings of the "fini-parti" rule and finally have it eliminated. The mayor has already consented to hiring 40 additional street sweepers a year for the next 2-3 years and requires garbage collectors to pick up around the Dumpsters from now on. There is hope for 2013.


VACATION BOUND

The financial crisis of the past few years is not stopping the French from taking vacations. A recent poll by Protourisme revealed that 53% of the French plan to take at least a one-week vacation away from home this year, up by 1% from last year, and to spend more on their next vacation, i.e. at least 2300 Euros (approx. $3000) per family. This is the first increase in 10 years. With a minimum of 35 days of paid vacation per year, most French people have always taken a winter and a summer holiday, but in recent years they have traveled less far as a result of la crise.

Speaking of holidays, I will soon be leaving for a month-long family visit on different continents which will silence this blog for a while. I will miss Eastertime in Provence (*) which is celebrated with a Good Friday meal of Aioli (cod with boiled vegetables and a strong garlic mayonnaise) and Easter Sunday dinner of roasted lamb, as well as a four-day bullfighting Feria in Arles, folkloric feasts in villages, and the first big wave of travelers from the North.

Grand aioli de Provence

Have a Happy Easter wherever you are;  I look forward to talking to you again in May.


(*) To read about Easter in Taking Root in Provence, click here.