PARIS (AP) — Full employment, plenty of cheap housing, a new Industrial Revolution and Police 3.0. Those are the French government's predictions for the year 2025.
Leaders in the Socialist administration, who are under criticism for the struggling economy and rising joblessness, met Monday to discuss the way forward. Grappling with an 11 percent unemployment rate, high taxes, and a declining industrial sector, they looked to better times in the future — the distant future.
"The countries that succeed are those that look ahead," said Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "France has been lagging in a globalized world and at times has doubted its future."
There were skeptics.