French Government Reaction
French President Nicolas Sarkozy did not mention those events in his one hour and a half television talk of 5 February 2009. He acknowledged later the grievances of the strikers in his first remarks on the crisis, "There cannot be a two-speed society in which one part gets richer while the other stagnates and depends on benefits."
Sarkozy ordered the government on 13 February 2009, to begin a review of France's policies towards its overseas territories. Sarkozy simultaneously announced the creation of a new government council to review policy toward all French overseas territories, a promise he had made during the presidential campaign of 2007. He called for a "distribution of riches" (i.e. distribution of wealth) to alleviate the societal and economic ills afflicting Guadeloupe and Martinique. French government ministers were asked to propose new long-term measures intended to modernise and stimulate the economies of both islands. Sarkozy suggested that the government may open up the islands' economies to more economic competition, but did not appear to strongly support the wage increases demanded by protesters, saying "We should beware of false good ideas for a short-term end to the conflict.
Sarkozy sought to reassure residents that the government was not ignoring their concerns, saying "Guadeloupe and Martinique are part of France" and that the islands' residents "have the sentiment that they are not always heard. We should continue to fight, every day, so that the country makes a larger place for those who represent the diversity of France."
Read more about this topic: 2009 French Caribbean General Strikes
Famous quotes containing the words french, government and/or reaction:
“Sanity is the lot of those who are most obtuse, for lucidity destroys one’s equilibrium: it is unhealthy to honestly endure the labors of the mind which incessantly contradict what they have just established.”
—Georges, French novelist, critic. L’Abbé C, pt. 2, ch. 17 (1950)
“Chile consents to do all we can reasonably demand. My regret is that our Government blustered and bullied. President [Benjamin] Harrison argued in his message like a prosecutor—made the most of the case against our weak sister. Forbearance, charity, friendship, arbitration should have been in our words and thoughts.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)