France to Tax Bankers’ Bonus
According to Christine Lagarde, France’s Finance Minister, the French government does not believe that taxing bank bonuses will cause traders and financial operations to leave Paris.
In an interview published by Le Figaro today, Mme Lagarde is quoted as saying that France will enact a law as early as the end of March levying a 50 percent tax on bonuses above €27,500, regardless of whether they are paid in cash or shares; affecting some 2,500 bankers.
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High Speed Living in France
The very first TGV (Train à grande vitesse) departed on its journey between Paris and Lyon in 1981, since when, living in France has sped ahead of the rest of Europe in the race to build a fully functioning high speed rail network.
Currently having almost 1,250 miles of specially built lines linking many of its major cities in service, France is looking for new ways to extend its lead.
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France May Ban the Burqa
According to a French government spokesman, France will study the small, but growing, trend to wear the burqa (or niqāb), with a view to banning the Islamic garment from being worn in public.
Speaking on France-2 television, Luc Chatel said that the government would look to set up a parliamentary commission that could propose legislation aimed at barring Muslem women from wearing the burqa and other fully covering gowns outside the home.
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Civil Partnerships
Foreign civil partners living in France will have their relationships officially recognised for the first time, thanks to a measure passed by the French National Assembly yesterday (29 April).
The move means that British ex-pats who have had civil partnerships in Britain will now have their union recognised in France as PACS, which is a form of civil union in France. While similar to a British civil partnership, PACS can be entered into by both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
Photo: kimberlyfaye
French president Nicolas Sarkozy now has 15 days to “promulgate” the measure into law, after the National Assembly endorsed the Senate’s position, which passed it last month.
Currently, same-sex couples who live in France but have legal partnerships or marriages registered in other countries are not legally recognised as a couple.
This means that an ex-pat who has entered into a civil partnership in Britain is subject to a higher rate of inheritance tax if their partner died, than somebody with PACS – especially if property was owned.
The measure has been welcomed by both the European Union and the European Parliament, who had been putting pressure on the French Government to recognise the legal status of same-sex couples that had registered their partnerships in another country.
“We have been calling for this for some time,” said the president of the European Parliament’s all-party Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights.
“I am looking forward to similar moves in other countries and eventually hope that same sex partnerships will be recognised throughout all 27 Member States of the EU.”
The non-recognition of foreign same-sex couples in France has been particularly frustrating, as PACS are recognised by EU countries that have same-sex partnerships laws.
Education in France – Introduction
French state education is well organised, well funded and with generally average to high standards in comparison to other European countries.
Since 1967, school has been obligatory for all children between the ages of 6 and 16. The school going community of about 13 million pupils is educated through a unified system, the general structure of which (schools, lower secondary schools and lycées) was gradually established in the 1960s and 1970s. Since the 1970s, France has also witnessed a salient development in pre-school education; all children aged between three and five years can attend nursery schools
The French system is complemented by a comprehensive network of private schools including international schools. Most of the private schools are supervised by the Ministry of Education and account for about 15% of pupils in primary education and 20% in secondary education, the bulk of which has remained stable in the past decade. Many schools are run by the Catholic church in partnership with the State (which pays the teachers). Private schools with no such contracts account for less than 50,000 pupils and depend on considerable financial contributions by families.
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