Brexit: EU working paper on "Citizens Rights"

The Europen Commission Task Force, which will conduct the Brexit negotians with Britain under Article 50, have issued a Working Paper outlining the "essential principles" that will guide their decisions when dealing with the human aspects - and consequences - of Brexit.

Importantly, the paper emphasises that EU nationals living in another state at the time of the announcement of withdrawal will retain the rights that they had at that moment and will include family members, students and others, anyone who works or has worked in another Member State.

These 'acquired rights' under EU law will be applicable 'for life' and the paper insists that any disputes will (continue to) be handled by the Euopean Court of justice.

The four-page document is highly specific and is accompanied by a longer (10pp) discussion on economic issues.

The documents have received virtually no coverage, other than in the British Guardain newspaper and were not discussed during the recent TV confornation between May and Corbin, despite the British elections being just a few days away.

They are the first sign of comfort for the five million or so EU nationals currently living in another Member State.

Posted by peterderouffignac@orange.fr

Nearly 3000 new enterprises in my small French home town.........

'2 792 new enterprises in ten years' says the headline in my local newspaper L'Indépendant - surely good news for any small town of just over 100 000 people (200 000 if you include the outlying suburbs and villages.

Analysing the accompanying report however, there are a number of anomales which make interesting reading. Anyone who visits the area cannot fail to miss the large number of 'wind farms' which generate electricity as huge windmills are driven by the prevailing Tramontane gales blowing in from the north-west. What few people know is that every one of these - together with solar panels taking advantage of the 300 days per year of sunshine -  has to be registered at the local chamber of commerce as a 'business', adding considerably to the list of new 'enterprises' created - comprising around 300 to 400 'éoliennes' (windmills) implanted in the reagion.

The other major contributors are those registering as 'auto-entrepreneurs' following the creation of this self-employment regime in 2008 designed to encourage small, individual business start-ups. Of these some 75% are listed as 'personal srvices' - from hairdressing to all types of care provision addressed largely at the region's growing elderly population. The area is one of the most popular in France for retirement - remarkably cheap housing, wide range of medical services from major hospitals and clincis to thermal spas.

Plus the sunshine already mentioned and the proximity of the Mediterranean coast and the border with Spain (Barcelona is only two hours drive away) which make Pyrénées-Orientales one of the most attractive areas of France.

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr 

Brexit uncertainties already affecting EU residents in Britain

According to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) a high percentage of EU citizens resident and working in Britain are reviewing their situation in the event of a potential Brexit.

The sectors most likely to be affected are education and healthcare where up to 50% of  'foreign' staff have indicated that they 'might leave' due to the uncertainties surrounding Brexit, the CIPD reports. The situation is most serious for these sectors where wages are traditionally low and employers are obliged to 'fill the gaps' by recruiting teachers and nurses from outside Britain.

Other sectors that could be similarly affected, the CIPD notes, are hotels, catering and retail,  sectors where qualifications may be low and (foreign) workers comparatively cheap.

British prime minister Theresa May has stressed all along that she wishes to guarantee the position of EU citizens already living and working in Britain, in return for a similar deal covering British citizens living in other EU member states. And the British House of Lords are pressing for guarantees now, ahead of any formal agreement with the rest of the EU.

For their part, some EU member countries have already made encouraging noises about the position of British subjects already resident in France, Spain and Italy among others, but are awaiting the official start to negotiations which will last at least two years. However, any words of comfort pronounced now are subject to uncertainties, such as the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in France this spring.

Use of the word 'bargaining' in place of 'negotiating' is a worrying sign of uncertain times ahead for individuals who have decided to settle outside their country of origin and relied on the sovereign principles of the Europen Union of 'freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital'.

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr

Unemployment benefits for the self-employed?

Among one of the more interesting proposals put forward by one of the French presidential contenders - Emmanuel Macron - is a scheme to protect the self-employed enabling them to access unemployment and sickness benefits in much the same way as an unempoyed person who has lost his/her job.

If you are employed in France on a fixed-term conract (CDD) or an open-ended 'permanent' job contract (CDI) both employer and employee pay a social contribution among many others, which covers the cost of unemployment benefits in the event of loss of the job. Benefits are calculated on how long you have worked/contributed and the maximum period of payments is normally 24 months, during which you can/must actively seek another job.

Being employed or unemployed is generally clear-cut - you either have a job or you don't. Being self-employed generally means you have to work harder and for longer hours (I can testify to that!) but there is no routine protection against loss of work or income brought about by economic circumstances or simply the loss of a valuable client or contract, and other factors beyond your control.

While I was self-employed in Britain for many years, I found it relatively easy to find a private insurance policy that would provide cover in the case of injury that prevented me from working; but insurers would not cover sickness - on the ground that I could feign illness during hard times and claim cover. Like other elf-employed I paid insurance contributions based on a percentage of my net earnings after costs claimed, which rose as my income increased and included state pension contributions.

What Macron is proposing for France  is a payment (out of earnings) by each self-employed individual that would be less than the current (high) 6.4% paid by the self-employed, against 2.4% by empyees. He is not suggesting that the self-employed should pay the equivalent of the cuombined contributions (emplyer/employee) but a reduced personal contribution of 4.6% - the remainder coming from 'general funds'.

It is an interesting idea and would require clear-cut guidelines as to when a self-employed person is out of work or not. One of the secrets of survival if you are self-employed, but not an estabished professonal such as a doctor or a lawyer,  is to have a mix of clients and several sources of income, so that the loss of a one client does not force the collapse of your enterprise. Half the fun is the uncertainty according to a book published in 2009 by Anne and Marine Rambacj entitled 'Les nouveaux intellos précaires'  which describes the precarious lives of many in the arts and intellectual professions (writers, artists etc) in France (Editions Stock, 2009).

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr

A trade union for freelancers?

Freelancers are probably best known for being non-joiners, valuing their freedom to experiment and make mistakes, perhaps at the cost of their financial survival. As a freelancer all my working life, I know the feeling.

That said, two French associations have recently appeared in France - the first a company called WeMind founded by two individuals (not a lot about them on their website) and based on the principle of bulk buying of goods and services such as public liability insurance and (additional) medical cover. As of Janiary 2017 they talk of 'over 10 000 members' and joining fees have been waived unil the end of Februay.

The second is an offsoot of a trade union (the CFDT) and called F3C  which is shorthand for 'the federation (of) communication, counseil (= consulting) and culture' to distinguish it from small business associations, such as the FSB in Britain, and concentrate on 'the intellectual professions'. Among the services proposed are the usual insurance packages and importantly advisory services for members experiencing problems with the tax authorities or social security office (in my experience, much needed). Membership costs 1% of the member's annual income.

Source: Alternatives Econoloiques February 2017, p. 59. Author Céline Mouzon.

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr

Working in retirement - numbers up in Britain and France

The number of people electing to continue working after they have reached the 'official' rtirement age is on the increase in both France and Britain.

In France in 2016, some 450,000 retired people were recorded as working - twice the numbers ten years ago, but bearing in mind that the retirement age is lower than most other countries, at 60 or 62.

Latest reports in Britain also show a doubling of the figures for over 70s and still working - 485,000 today (compared with 271,000 five years ago) and a remarkable 42,000 still working after reaching the age of 80 (compared with 21,000 five years ago).

Looking ahead five years, France's active population has been predicted as reaching 1.2 million more people today, together with an increasingly elderly population living longer. There is also a discernible population shift to the south. Unskilled work will generally be harder to find, with increasing 'professionalism' required for most jobs. More jobs will be created in the 'care' sector looking after the elderly and more public money spent on education and training.

Compared with Britain, when continuing to work in retirement is a relatively simple process - you don't have to notify anyone and simply add your earnings to your pension and other sources of income - the French have managed to create another bureaucratic nightmare, involving declarations, investigations and restrictions too complicated to explain in this post! I may return to the subject later after more research.

Suffice it to say that France operates 37 different retirement 'régimes', largely depending on your jobs, and there are increasing reports from some areas of France where one year or more after giving up work and entering retirement, some people are still waiting for their first pension payment and/or at least what they are entitled to. If you have changes jobs during your working life, the first difficulty is assembling and verifying that contributions have been paid, iften going back decades. It is a nightmare for the bureaucrats let alone the pensioners concerned.

The organisation CIPAV has been singled out by the government - and is the appropriate régime for many self-employed - for providing no or incorrect information to its members and ordered to apologise and pay compensation.  

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr 

The art of becoming self-employed - start a 'side hustle'

When I was 30 years old I had set up my first business - and promptly wrote a book about it. Scanning the internet many years later, I am pleased to see that a lot of the advice offered is very much like what I told myself (and wrote about) - the American even coining their own word for it - a 'side hustle' or 'side venture' which describes something which you can start with little or no capital and while continuring to work in your current job (if you have one).

I recall my golden rules from all those years ago and they are still valid today if I was starting out all over again - which is fact something you continue to do as I found that the nature of you business can change over time, due to the vagaries of the market or simply your own wish to try something new. Here are my personal golden rules:

- Ask yourself what you want or are qualified to do. If you are a skilled plumber or born fashion designer, then you already have something you can offere the market. In my own case, the only skill could offer was writing and passing on knowledge (I was good at school, passed my exams etc but totally hopeless at sports or manual skills).

- Research the market? Not always possible and you may have to work in a sector that is already crowded or is difficult to investigate.

- No capital? No problem. There is no logical reason why banks, let alone your family and friends should 'invest' in your business, particularly if you have no capital yourself. You are asking them to take a risk which you are not sharing - though they may pursue you should you fail. Your only option is to start something that needs no or minimal capital.

- Already working? Many jobs are more secure today (due to employment legislation and the protection of a trade union) but if you are hankering for a change, best think of a venture that can be started part-time. Or put the other way round, run your venture fulltime but continue to work in a part-time job or one offering shifts, weekends, evening or night work (call centres, night receptionist, restaurant or bar work etc).

- No office, premises etc? No problem. Start something you can run from home (disceetly if necessary). As a consultant/expert in whatever sphere you choose, you can workd from home and meet clients at their offices or over a coffee or lunch. If you need a meeting room, display area etc these can be hired by hour or day as required. If you are selling by mail order or via the internet, stock can be kept in your garage or storage space rented as and when necessary.

- No money to buy special equipment? My first ventures involved my trusty portable typewriter and my parents' telephone. Not a lot has changed today, as we moved to fax machine, telephone answering machine, voicemail, internet, computer, smart phone etc

- Portfolio working - a description invented by Professor Charles Handy, to describe working in a mix of roles - full or part-time exployment, short/long term contracts, changing roles or even your profession several times over a working lifetime.

- Be prepared to change - I have stayed more or less in the role of consultant, writer, university professor; but a friend and colleague gave up his role as a university lecturer in London and California to open a small organic BandB hotel in the south of France, and writing about wine, and advising on wine marketing for local producers.

- Working in retirement - entirely possible in many professions (consultants in almost any sector, writers, artists, photographers etc) that do not involve heavy manual skills that may become difficult with age.

- Contiue to expand your skills base through study (part time, online), attending seminars and conferences, part-time degree courses etc.

- Make your business portable - By offering your professional skills described above, in theory you can enjoy working from anywhere, from your home or country cottage, or any beach in in the world from Corfu to California.'Have laptop, can travel' should be your motto.

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr



   

Home-working and its contribution to the environment...

Two recent events have highlighted - and it is to be hoped changed the minds of governments and citizens - about the need to encourage more homeworking as a part- or full-time option. The two events are of course the serious air pollution in Paris and some other French cities, and disruption of the London Underground and commuter rail networks.

In Paris and other French cities, the levels of air pollution have led to bans on inner city driving (alternative days for odd and even numbered vehicles), speed restrictions and other controls such as banning older vehicles (already operated in Paris) and on diesel powered vehicles. Meanwhile there is a serious 'flu epidemic with hospitals reporting crisis conditions and the concelling of many scheduled operations.

The sight of literally millions of commuters trying to reach their jobs in Central London was sad to behold - mile long traffic jams, near riot conditions to get on to a bus or the occasional comuuter train or Underground service, and literally hours spent getting from into and from work.

Much of the pain could be alleviated and many lives improved if more people were allowed/prepared to work from home, fulfilling remotely the tasks performed on a comuter that could be done at home and do not require daily travel to the office. In an earlier post (see below) I looked at the rise in (temporary) office sharing and concluded from the evidence that daily physical contact with one co-workers was not necessary.

Nor is it the case that home-working necessarily means retiring to the countryside and 'dropping out' of society (as we said in the 1960s). I have worked at/from home all my life, long before the invention of the computer,  as a writer/consultant/visting lecturer in both Paris and Central London . My clients were generally local (walking distance from home) or involved a journey out of town - travelling in the opposite direction to the commuters pouring into the capital. I gave up my car in Central London due to high parking fees and the hours wasted trying to find a designated residents' parking space. My salvation was the opening of a national car rental company in the basement garage of where I lived and the luxury of a new, clean car whenever I needed one. Over a twelve month period the costs were much lower than owning.

Two other life-changers were the opening of Euruostar service to Bussels (from Waterloo, walking distance from my home), after years of uncertain ferries, hovercrraft and airline trips; and the arrival of the mobile phone which became my travelling office, together with any hotel lobby near to the Berlaymont Building, home of the European Commission.

Central Paris is a more manageable size, with most meetings within walking distance of my home or using the efficient Metro/RER services and French Rail for out-of-town visits using the TGV services which are much lower priced than in Britain - even in first class. Comparatively few Central Paris dwellers own a car, which tended to be use only at weekends to drive to the (usully inherited) country cottage/second home. Now there are organised car pools and journey-sharing websites and - suprisingly late compare with Britain - a growing networdk of long-distance bus services.

Finally, communication and the internet have revolutionised the way we work. Even in the seventies and eighties the only 'on-line' information service I used was Dialog, based in Palo-Alto  (California) which required a keyboard send/receive terminal connected to a special phone line, which put me in touch with a library of citations. Search results  had then to be ordered and sent in printed form by post from the USA!

Given the enormous advances in online commications, which are continuing, and the availability of sources such as Wikipedia, there is no reasonswhy many more of us should not be working from home!

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr

Boom in temporary work-space rentals for small business start-ups

Start-up business from solo operators to small groups of partners are often faced with the dilemma of where they can work together during the all important  try-out period without eating into scarce funds needed to launch the new enterprise.

One solution may be to rent temporary offices or a workspace - from a single desk and chair through to meeting rooms, conference facilities, showroom, and catering services - now widely available through a network of operators and offered for a period of a single day upwards.

Among the largest operators in Europe are OfficeRiders (short term renters are known in France as 'riders') offering a wide selection of sites from Paris to Montpellier in the south. Another operator - Spaceshop London - is also expanding into Europe, along with (the largest?) American group Heywork USA.

Work-spaces can be hired from an average 15 to 20 euros per person per day and even solo operators may find they enjoy the opportunity of working and sharing ideas with other small business start-ups.

If you own a suitable property and have some spare space you might wish to consider contacting one of the operators who take care of marketing, taking bookings and collecting payments, and doubtless a commission.

An article about the Swedish model 'Hoffice' and links to a number of operators appears today on the bbc.co.uk website.

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr

French shopping centres still popular - but for how much longer?

I last wrote in March 2015 about shopping centres - known as centres commerciaux - which are still flourishing in France, against trends reported in America. The contrast is remarkable but they say that where America leads the rest of the world follows - eventually. At the moment the two countries present a diametrically opposed oicture as the following statistics show.

Taking the USA first, there are an esimated 1 500 'shopping malls' and of these some experts estimate that 15 to 20 per cent, perhaps even one-third, are threatened with closure within ten years or less. The reasons given include online shopping - now accounting for 6% of retail sales and growing at some 8% per year - while Amazon alone has surged ahead with a 28% spurt......

America's giant retailers - J C Penney (1000 stores), Macy's (700) and Sears (600) - have been the stalwart pioneers of the American mall but are among the first to feel the impact of new ways of shopping. And when they decide to pull out of a shopping mall, some 200+ retail outlets can be affected as visitor numbers decline.

American commentators recount how the early shopping malls of the 1950s and 60s fulfilled a social role where you got to together with family and friends, wanted to see and be seen, joined others for coffee or meal, and enjoyed some of the adjacent attractions such as a cinema. It was normal to spend a whole day out.

Not surpisingly France and other European countries caught up with the trend and today - after Russia !) - Franc has the largest number of out-of-town shopping centres, currently numbering 1 200 sites. Leading the Top Ten is the Les Quatre Temps centre near Paris, with 228 shops and 46 million visitors annually, down to number twenty O'Parinord (83) with 210 shops and 12 million visitors.

The development of shopping centres was initially controlled by the loi Roger of 1973 which originally included a number of conditions - environmental, aiding job losses in town centres - which were gradually watered down and currently a further 2 million square mettres are added each year.

The spread continues and even in smallish towns such as my own (Perpignan) where there are centres commerciaux to the north, south and east of the town, with more planned, and dominated by huge retailers such as LeClerc and Auchan. A recent spectacular failure however has been the Centre dell mon built around the new TGV station with 15 shops (all closed) and two large hotels. There is talk of creating more offices or  using it to expand part of the local university. Reasons for the failure included lack of parking spaces, difficult access by a one-way street and the fact that rail passengers simply did not shop in the middle of their journey (many were going south to Barcelona or north to Paris!).

Figures for UK retailing show that Britain has some 46,000 shops lying empty (about 13% of the total), one third of them for longer than 3 years. Numbers of town centre shoppers (known as 'footfall') were 4% down according to recent figures, and out-of-town by 1.6% - both trends blamed on the rise of on-line shopping which now accounts for over 13% of all retail sales.

Posted by peterdanton@orange.fr

Renting out your French home for profit.....two useful guides

If you are considering renting out your French main or second home, you may be interested in a couple of books that guide you through the process and help you make a profit. Both are heavily influenced by the American short-term rental platform Airbnb and are published on Amazon Kindle.

They are:
- Doublez vos réservations by Thibault Masson (in French)
- The Airbnb Entrepreneur by Warren Bell (in English)

Masson's book is discussed in this morning's LeFigaro* online and covers six principal areas:

1. Investigating and deciding on your target market, such as families with children, business visitors or romantic couples. Each market is quite distinct, and depends on the size and type of your property, its location and what are its nearby 'attractions' that will appeal to your target group.

2. Target your marketing and description to your chosen group and emphasise the elements likely to appeal to them.

3. Reply quickly to enquiries - potential renters usually approach an average of five competing properties and a prompt reply helps win customers.

4. Having done your research, make sure your prices are in line with similar offers in the same sector.

5. Look after the details and ensure particularly that beds and baths are impeccable, as they are among renters' prime concerns.

6. Provide little extras, such as overnight items for breakfast, or a bottle of champagne for couples.

Airbnb also publish a number of guidelines, specifically tailored to France, including essential tax and legal advice.

* LeFigaro.fr

France's retirement boom may not be enough to create jobs

French politicians looking ahead over the next decade or so have for a long time assumed that the retirement boom - resulting from the high birth rates in the decades after the war - will be the chief answeer to the country's high unemployment. As an estimated 10 million French give up work and enter retirement, their places will have to be filled - so the argument goes.

A recent report* however has taken a more cautious view and thrown into doubt the idea that the retirement boom alone will solve France's high unemployment. The report offers three possible scenarios, cautious, moderate and optimistic and in the worst-case version unemployment in 2022 could be as high as 9.7% (with just over 1 million jobs created); the 'central version' suggests the creation of some 1.8 million new jobs and an unemployment rate of 7.9%; while the most optimistic version talks of 2.1 million new jobs and unemployment at 6.7%.

What are the reasons for this? The analysts suggest that inevitably the demand for certain types of workers are likely to decline, citing in particular industrial and manufacturing jobs, work in agriculture and the lowest category (C) of employees in the public sector. They also suggest that among the self-employed and owners of the smallest businesses (cafés, restaurants, small shops etc) when the owner retires, the business tends to close and disappear from view.

The only sector likely to recruit in large numbers is that of 'home helps' but the researchers note that this type of work is regarded as unattractive and low-paid and may even fail to attract the unemployed. Generally unskilled and medium-skilled jobs requring few specialist qualifications - sales assistants, drivers, cleaners - will decline due to streamlining and automation.

Among the remedies being discussed are shorter working hours (!) and the researchers note that the introduction of the 35 hour working week in France generated over 2 million jobs between 1998 and 2001.

* 'France Stratégie" as reported in "Alternatives Economiques" no. 347 June 2015.  

Reasons to move to - or leave - France?

I am pretty sure no statistics exist which explain why some British people choose to move and live permanently in France, the variety of reasons why - and sadly, why some decide that this is not for them and return home to the UK, wiser in experience but possibly poorer materially.

During my years as a French estate agent negotiator and property adviser in the south of France, I have met many buyers of 'second homes' and an equal number of people who have decided to give up their British property and lifestyle and settle permanenty in France. The majority have stayed, moving the Mediterranean to enjoy their retirement, and in a few casers younger individuals have set up successful businesses. (This is quite different from the pattern of French moving from France to Britain, who are invariably of working age and go there to find jobs or set up their own business).

Among the few who have returned 'home' to Britain, their reasons have included:
- not being able to adjust to a radical change of lifestyle, though moving almost anywhere to enjoy ones retiremant can prove traumatic unless you plan ahead and are clear what you are looking for.
- not being able to cope with the French language.
- as a result of the above, unable to settle in a new location and make new friends and contacts.
- making a radical change from, say, a large (English) town to a small (French) village.
- health and prefering to rely on the known NHS rather than the excellent French healthcare system.
- in the case of parents, because the children are not appy in a French school.
- inability to find suitable work or set up a viable business.
- wanting to be closer to children and grandchildren or other family, back in England.
- death of one of the partners.

Looking at the list, it is clear that a permanent move to France needs careful planning about where to live, what sort of lifestyle you are seeking, effect on accompanying children and on those left behind, your prospects of survival either through working, pensions or savings; and some kind of 'what if?' contingency plan.

While I was selling appartments and houses on the Mediterranean coast, a typical client (who succeeded in settling permanently) :
- knew and had visited the region previously, usually on holiday
- had visited other reagions of France or even other countries such as Spain or Portugal, before deciding on this part of France
- knew more or less what they wanted - beachside apartment, country cottage etc - but sometimes changed their ideas
- had a clear idea of budget for the property purchase and their 'survival plan' to finance their new life
- sometimes had a Plan B in case their situation changed.

As often happens, people do not always follow their own advice and my own arrival in France happened entirely by accident! It all started when the central London property I was living in, with a controlled rent, was sold to property speculators, and I found myself facing a tripling of my rent and increasing uncertainty of freelance work lecturing, writing and consulting, as I moved towards retirement. It was a colleague at the university where I taught who introduced me to the region where we both now live. He had already bought a small holiday flat to enjoy during the long university holidays, and then decided to stay (finding lecturing assisngments locally and then setting up his own 'chambres d'hotes' with a French partner). I calculated I could just about affford a small property, using my savings, as this was just before ther boom in prices which took off after 2001. And I too found my own means of survival, doing much the same as I did back in London but with a French twist. It has not all been plain sailing but looking back I feel I made the best of a bad situation that was beyond my control.

The moral here is by all means plan ahead but sometimes you have to react quickly to events and do the best you can. It often works!

France's mad, chaotic social security regimes

Unless you have tried to make a living in France, you may not be familiar with the utterly chaotic and inefficient tax and social security regimes - and the consequences on (un)employment.

It would tale a sizeable book to explain but very briefly if you work in France, either employed or self-employed, your social contributions are collected by one of several semi-independent bodies, and depend under which 'regime' you are working. For example as an employee, a farmer, a liberal profession and so on. If you work at more than one job - for example, you are an employed school teacher but during those long weeks on holiday, you also run an art gallery - you will pay security contributions into at least two schemes, one for each activity. Heaven help you if you have muultiple occupations, as many people do in Britain, or in the above example also create and sell your own artworks (another regime!)

When I lived in Britain before coming to France, I worked simultaneously as a part-time university lecturer, a writer and journalist, a legal consultant and as an advocate in the employment tribunal. In France this would involve five or possibly six separate social security 'regimes' (as authors are separate from journalists!). As I earned more I paid proportionately higher tax and social security charges, with contributions all going into one pot, regardless of their source. This situation will of course be familiar to many others who have multiple-sources earnings.

Not surprisingly the Anglo-Saxon approaches, proposed two or three secades ago by authors such as Charles Handy, have not reached France. It was Handy and others who predicted a future of 'mixed employments' for many, involving periods of full or part-time working, job sharing, self-employment, mixed employment, unemployment, and this is a reality for many in Britain and the USA.

French economists such as Emmanuel Macron, author of a 200-point plan to revive the French economy, appear not to have glanced across the Channel, and whatever reforms the socialist government*  proposes are rendered ineffectual because no-one has had the courage and foresight to radically to tackle the current system of separate social security regimes.

As I wrote in an earlier post among the worst scandales associated with the different social security regimes are the long delays in making payments: twelve months or more since becoming retired, several thousand French people are still awaiting their first pension payments while their social security providers try to work out the correct level, based on a lifetime of contributions.

* It should be noted that none of the other major French political parties has come up with a better plan. 

Scandal of French pensions

Those of us living in France and in receipt of a Bitish state pension - which may not be over-generous but arrives on time - may sympathise with their French neighbours still waiting for  their first payment , in some cases two years after they reached the age of entitlement.

This worrying situation was revealed last night in the TV programme "C'est dans l'air" (Channel 5, 17:45) which examined the failure of every government  during the last three décades to reform the French pensions service. Not only have the French insisted for the most part that retirement starts at age 60 (when virtually every other country in Europe has raised the official retirement age to cope with shorter working lives and longer life expectancy) but the system relies on a multiplicity of semi-private providers (known as "caisses") depending on your occupation, with only public sector pensions being the direct responsibility of the government.

As you change jobs, you change pension provider, and calculating - and paying - your final pension depends on your last provider, who has the task of assembling information from all of the pensioner's previous assurers. It is this task which is causing serious delays and the programme highlighted two couples still awaiting their first pension payment two years after the husbands finished work. They are meanwhile relying on their savings, the help of family and friends, charities and state handouts. One particular "caisse" had a backlog of five thousand similar cases and had closed its office to the public in order to try and deal with the situation.

One of the programme's commentators noted that the situation was particularly critical in certain regions of France, and highlighted the north east and Languedoc-Roussillon as among the worst.

French Property News, May 2014

In this month's issue - which is a 'special' dedicated to setting up and running a successful business in France, I have written a piece taking stock of where France is in May 2014, just having voted in the local elections and with European élections due at the end of May. It is also signals the end of François Hollande's second year as President (with another three years to run).

Now that the piece has appeared we know the result of the local elections - significant losses for the socialists, gains for the UMP (Mr Sarkozy's party) and for the National Front. The most striking effect has been the sacking of the prime minister (Mr Ayrault) by Mr Hollande and the appontment of Manuel Vals, former interior minister, in his place. There have been some resignations, including the former ecologist housing minister Cécile Duflot.

The most striking changes are a reduction in the number of ministers to about half of the previous government, and greater reliance on 'ministers of state'. The intention is to have a smaller inner working cabinet headed by Valls. It is probably too early to comment but critics suggest that the new government is largely re-hashing older policies, when what is required, they argue, are significant reductions in public expenditure, urgent action to reduce unemployment and concrete measures to increase productivity.

For the property sector, no significant new policies have yet been announced though the country's demographic profile may be enough to get the market moving again. With some three million pensioners expected to enter retirment in the next decade, it is predicted that many of them - already property owners - will want to dispose of their larger principal homes, usually located in the northern half of the country, and join the exodus South to the sun. As a result there is a growing market for new-build properties and for alternatives such as timber construction, and an emphasis on energy saving, with an eye on the future.

French Property News is available from newsagents or on subscription. www.french-property-news.com

French Property News, May 2013

Under the title 'Spanish connection' my article in this month's issue of French Property News focuses on the effects of the new fast TGV train service that will shortly connect Perpignan with Barcelona in just 50 minutes.  Since writing the piece, the projected date of 1 May has been put back again to some time in the autumn, due to technical difficulties still to be resolved (while the French trains take their electric power from overhead cables, the Spanish trains use the track).

Services from inside France and from the UK and other European countries currently reach Figueras, just over the border in Spain, and passengers have to switch to a Spanish AVE train to complete their journey to Barcelona and beyond.

The new service will be of particular interest to travellers who prefer the train, with a return fare from London to Barcelona already available at 203 pounds sterling, and an SNCF special one-way ticket from Paris to Figueras (via Perpignan) for 49 euros.

On both sides of the border hopes have been raised regarding increased cultural, tourist and commercial links resulting from the new services, and with Barcelona (eventually) just 50 minutes away, it is easy to imagine taking a shopping or business trip by train, as opposed to using the frequently congested A7/E15 motorway (2 to 3 hours depending on the time of year).

Barcelona and Spanish Catalonia are Europe's richest regions, with a GDP some 20% higher than the rest of Europe, due to well established manufacturing industries, culture and tourism - including the Costa Brava.

French Property News is available on subscription and fom newsagents. 

French Property News, March 2012

In this issue I have written an interesting success story, more satisfying as it concerns an old friend and university colleague, Jonathan Healey. Jonathan and his partner Matthieu Bazan have opened a superb boutique hotel in Argelès-sur-mer, in a converted maison de maitre in the heart of the old village, opposite the parish church. They offer double en-suite rooms and organic food. All the rooms have heating and air condiioning, individually controlled. You can see more on http:// hostalet.fr

Jonathan is an established wine writer and completed his studies in oenology at UC Davis (California) and in addition to offering wine courses based at the hotel has he lectured at Perpignan University and Girona University as part of their wine and tourism programmes. He also advises and creates websites for many local and distant wine producers, with clients all over France. See www.jonathanhealey.com

Creating jobs in France

As we approach the forthcoming elections in France, with radically different programmes on offer from left and right, it seems the French are still struggling with the idea of simplifying the mass of rules and regulations surrounding the creation and management of even small business.

Even though the French auto-entrepreneur scheme has been a relative success (with nearly a million new business creations since its launch) the social security system remains in a total mess, divided as it is into numerous organisations or special regimes depending on your occupation. The situation becomes even more nightmarish if you undertake more than one recognised activity. A lecturer at the Sorbonne complained to me 'for the French social authorities I am two people - a lecturer and a consultant - paying two lots of charges to two different organisations. I also happen to have inherited 20 hectares of land which it is easier to simply let out to a local farmer: If I even thought about cultivating it myself, I would have to join also the special regime for farmers and growers. It is complete madness'.

Retired British people living in France are particularly badly hit, especially if they receive a British pension and depend on the French basic health care system for their sickness cover. Registering as an auto-entrepreneur (self-employed) alters all this, with loss of the basic cover and compulsory entry into a social regime covering the type of work undertaken (from craftsmen to business consultants). As a result many people simply give up, at a time when it is prudent for all of us to try and earn and save a little extra, and not have to rely on handouts from the state, even where these are available. 

As a 'victim' of this complex system I have had several meetings with representatives of the various French social organisations and explained the British system - basically explaining that you can receive a pension and work at the same time, paying some income tax (after deducting expenses) above the limit of of one's individual allowances. 'It is really as simple as that?' said one astonished official, 'Yes' I replied as I contemplated the 16 different deductions (social charges) on my payslip - in reality an A4 sheet! - which included 'pension contributions'........

France is not alone in maintaining a complex regulatory system for new business startups (a minefield of regulations, restrictions, licences and permissions) and for the collection and payment of tax and social charges. In a recent interview with young people facing unemployment in Italy, Spain and Greece, several complained of the practical barriers to starting even the smallest business, administrative delays and in some cases the need to hand over a fee (bribe) to a government official in order to get anything done.

It is surprising that in these times of crisis and large-scale unemployment, neither side in France's election campaign has come forward with anything like a solution. 

P-D de R.

French Property News, July 2011

In this month's French Property News I have brought readers up to date about Ian and Lori Sutton's search for a property in France and their plans to creat an organic olive grove. Now the owners of a house and a three-hectare piece of land, Lori has to start the process of improving her French and finding her way round the inevitable bureaucracy in order to achieve her dream.

French Property News July 2011. http://www.archant.co.uk/