Rebirth of England.

Chapter 861: German-French Differences
In fact, starting from two or three years ago, except for some high-end manufacturing industries, the rest of the manufacturing industries that need to enhance their competitiveness by cost have not only moved to Asia, mainly China, but Colo has also accepted a lot of industries.

What he transferred to China were industries such as automobiles, mobile phones, and chips, which require the cooperation of a complete industrial chain and have a certain technological content.

Most of the primary processing manufacturing industries have been transferred to Colo - after all, compared with China, the labor costs here are lower.

At the same time, after the subprime mortgage crisis, the unemployment rate in Britain rose, and a considerable number of British employees were sent to China and Colo.

Yes, the labor costs for such overseas expatriates are slightly higher than in the UK because they need to pay overseas subsidies.

However, considering that these employees can train local employees in China and Kolo and bring out more local employees who meet the requirements, this temporary increase in salary costs is acceptable.

Therefore, just like Kolo, there are currently nearly 2000 employees from the UK in various industries, which is not a small scale.

Fortunately, English was already one of the official languages ​​when the new government of Kolo was established. Although not many of their older people can use English, the younger generation has basically become accustomed to communicating in English.

After all, although on the surface Kolo still regards English and French as both official languages, in fact, in their entire education system, only English is used for teaching, and French is just a compulsory "foreign language" - just like in Chinese schools, it can be said that English has been taught since elementary school, but until graduation from university, the proportion of people who can fluently communicate with foreigners in English is not high.

This is the difference between a mother tongue and a first foreign language.

……

"I believe that this merger between Natixis Bank and Commerzbank will become a model for cooperation between France and Germany in the financial field..."

Ashley Weber's most important job at present is to facilitate Natixis' acquisition of Commerzbank. Therefore, even though she is nearly six months pregnant, she still met privately with representatives of German Chancellor Merkel when Lagarde came to Germany to promote Natixis' acquisition of Commerzbank.

She said to him:

"It is a very important task for our two countries to deal with the European debt crisis. We must work closely together. Of course, we have also seen that some of President Hollande's recent actions may seem a little inappropriate, but I believe that these actions are mainly to fulfill his campaign promises, but reality will make him change..."

Ashley Weber is not only the chairman of William Weber Capital, the controlling shareholder of Natixis Bank, but also a member of a French political family. Hollande himself has a close relationship with the Weber family. This is why when she came to Germany this time, Merkel specifically asked her secretary to meet with the other party on her behalf.

As mentioned before, during the Sarkozy era, France and German Chancellor Merkel had a relatively good understanding in dealing with the European debt crisis.

But during the French general election in April this year, because of some remarks made by Hollande on France's relations with the European Union and the euro zone, Germany had doubts about the prospects for Franco-German cooperation after Hollande's election.

In the division of the political spectrum, Hollande represents the French left, while Merkel's governing philosophy represents the right. After Hollande came to power, the ruling parties of France and Germany belonged to different political factions. This difference in philosophy is not conducive to cooperation between the two sides, or at least it is difficult to cooperate as tacitly as Sarkozy.

Even when Hollande visited Germany right after taking office as French president, both countries were trying their best to maintain the friendly relationship of the "Franco-German alliance"...

However, differences in economic philosophies led to continued discord between the two countries.

Many people in Germany believe that in order to fulfill his campaign promises, Hollande has taken a series of measures that are not conducive to improving France's economic competitiveness, which will eventually harm France and the European Union. For example, the French newspaper Le Figaro said that the German government is particularly worried that Hollande's economic policies will affect the vitality of EU countries in implementing structural reforms and strict budget discipline.

In addition, former German Chancellor Schröder also bluntly criticized Hollande's economic policies after taking office at a seminar on the European Union.

Schröder believes that France today is like Germany in 2003 - Germany was in a very bad economic environment at the time and was called the "European patient". Schröder's subsequent drastic reform measures helped Germany out of the predicament.

Schröder reminded Hollande:
"The French president's campaign promises will eventually hit the wall of economic reality."

Schroeder believes that Hollande's decision to advance the retirement age for some French working people from 62 to 60 after taking office is a "bad signal" and that the French government does not have the financial resources to support this measure.

He also believes that Hollande's blind increase in taxes in order to achieve the deficit reduction target will not only cause capital outflow from France, but also lead to the collapse of the French job market.

"If we send two or three wrong signals to the outside world, our French friends will face a cruel reality."

In this regard, the French newspaper Le Figaro commented that Schröder voiced out the concerns that Merkel's government officials did not dare to express publicly.

When the French media ask German chancellery and ministry officials to publicly comment on the French economic situation, they are often refused.

However, some German officials still privately express their concerns about the French economic situation.

For example, a senior German government official privately stated:
"Bild is exaggerating. France is not Greece, Spain or Italy. But the situation in France is worrying."

The official believes that France's neighbors are all carrying out brave economic structural reforms, and Hollande appears ideologically isolated compared to these neighbors.

Some economists who have the greatest influence on the German government agree that Hollande's sharp increase in taxes but being "too shy" about cutting spending will inevitably suffocate the French economy and increase unemployment.

They believe that only structural reforms to the economy and strict budget discipline can have a positive impact on economic growth and employment.

German economists have given Hollande a series of "magic pills" to get out of the economic crisis:
Reduce wage costs, abolish the 35-hour work system, promote competition, reduce taxes, reform the retirement system, etc.

However, analysts believe that as a left-wing president, Hollande may not have the courage to adopt these more right-wing economic policies.

Therefore, what Ashley said to Merkel's secretary implied that they also disagreed with some of Hollande's policies - after all, it is well known that his ideas lean towards the left, and he did not have much experience in governing before, so it is normal for him to have some "idealism" in terms of policies.

But in the final analysis, his policies, whether it is drastic tax increases or continued relaxation of workers' welfare benefits, will cause dissatisfaction among French domestic capital.

I believe that reality will soon force him to adjust his policies - I believe this is also what the German side wants to see.

(End of this chapter)