Photo Gallery A French World of Fear
Labor union workers wear masks at a protest in Paris in October.
Arnaud Montebourg, France's minister of industrial renewal, recently became locked in a spectacular wrestling match with steel giant ArcelorMittal, which employs 20,000 people at 150 sites in France. He threatened to temporarily nationalize the company's two blast furnaces in Florange.
A giant sign reading SOS in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary near an ArcelorMittal blast furnace. The French prime minister withdrew the threat to nationalize Florange, and in return ArcelorMittal agreed to avoid layoffs at the site, although the two blast furnaces will remain shut down.
French President François Hollande uses reassuring language for a wary public in talking about industry. Instead of referring to structural reforms, he uses the seemingly harmless word "change." And when companies complain about the lack of "flexibility" in the French labor market, Hollande promises more "malleability."
