… bringing back the confidence of the French citizenry in 100 days, as the Napoleon-admiring newly-installed Prime Minister has said he would do. The Shade of the Olive Tree – an excellent blog linked here before, written by a British expat in Provence – has an analysis of these difficulties.
Number one problem is that the 100 days are starting on the wrong date. 100 days from June 1st is mid September which means that de Villepin already faces a problem that about 60 of his 100 days are going to be absorbed by the entire nation heading off to my neck of the woods for “les vaccances”. It is hard to get bureaucrats to do things quickly at the best of times and next to impossible when they are either preparing for their holidays, on holiday or recovering afterwards.
There’s plenty more in the essay which the blogger says is a trial run for the kind of opinion piece he would be submitting to Pajamas Media/Blog News Service.
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