IF :: BBC WORLD

The Beeb this morning has had considerable coverage of the EU vote coming up in France. I've seen the cycle of stories twice now. The general tenor of the nons is the fear that the EU will take France down the road of what they refer to as the ultra-liberal Anglo model of free markets. In the U.S. that model is referred to as the ultra conservative Reagan model. Nevermind, I know what they mean.

The line that really sticks in my mind is from a French female intellectual saying something like "IF you have a job, you enjoy job protections, good working hours, and a good pension. People don't want to lose that system."

IF, indeed.

UPDATE: I'd missed The Times article of the 25th reporting on an interview with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

“The people are worried that the system goes too far in the direction of the Anglo-Saxons — that this excessive ‘liberalism’ is endangering their conditions of work and life. That is just wrong. The constitution takes no step in [that] direction and its economic model remains the European one of the social market,” he said.