What does the new President mean for you?

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John, what I gather from the article is that there is hope that Hollande might be a positive change. Austerity is not working around the world. People are out of work and we need to spend money to help people put their lives back to work. George Bush destroyed our country by giving it all to the rich. Now the Republican party wants to go the austerity route rather than tax the rich. Obama wants to invest in the people. I think that Obama will prevail in the upcoming election in November as most Americans are for investing in our people. Only those that fall under the spell of the religious right feel that we should tighten spending for domestic programs. So far we are slowly pulling out of a recession but if the conservatives win in November, we could be in the same boat as Europe.

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@Jerry. What's the bottom line of the article? It doesn't seem to have a conclusion.

@Carol, France is France, UK is UK. There are annoying things in both countries. You are lucky that you can choose which annoys you less. I don't find the red tape here too trying. I'm sure it kills small businesses and drives the locals mad but that's not my problem, it's Hollande's (good luck with that). I couldn't live in the UK again despite loving and occasionally missing my home town of London. I hope you'll forgive me for saying that maybe when you do bale out of France you might miss more than you ever thought (apologies to Carly Simon, the Carter famiy).

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its one of the reasons we plan on returning to the UK....the red tape here is just too much to bear...! I guess not having the right to vote without all the info in the dossier is...well...just really French...its what they do and what makes them French....I cant see a relaxation of any rules...

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Corrected website: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/05/europe_policies.html .

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I may now live full-time or vote in France, but what happens to France affects us all, including the United States. Since I work for the U.S. Government, I get information from all kinds of think tanks. Just ran across an interesting article that you might find interesting at: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/05/eerope_policies.html . Basically, it explains that Hollande is a pragmatist and not an ideologue and is expected to govern from the middle rather than either extreme.

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@ Carol, applying for French nationality is something I do intend to get round to but as Andrew said, being self employed (that's me and my husband) with young children it really is at the bottom of a long list of 'to do's'. Having also been a bit of a globe trotter, the address issue will be a problem. As I have been 'officially' resident and employed in France for over 10 years, with an unlimited 'titre de sejour' plus mum to 2 kids born here who currently have the right to French nationality automatically, I do feel I should have the right to vote without spending over a year on yet another dossier.

Maybe that's what Hollande could do for 'les etrangers' before he starts taking the AE system apart.

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Yes I laughed at that too. Back later guys, driving now.

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Ah, well knowing he is a lawyer cum politician and therefore you will almost certainly never receive an answer, your satisfaction is in having asked the question. Fine, makes sense to me. I've read an enormous amount of philosophy over the years and asking the questions seems to be quite a common denominator in there.

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Simple really. Since I don’t understand the reason, I ask the question.

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Nick - is he not a lawyer as well as a retired politician, so would you not be wasting a great deal of energy seeking an answer to your question? As for what I as a social scientist find almost impenetrable in Descartes' mathematical theory, why did you say that anyway since I thought the question we are pondering is almost without dimensions. Or?

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There are reasons I despair of the UK and do not happily identify with it. For instance:
The woman who lives in a shed: how London landlords are cashing in www.guardian.co.uk

My fear though, is that if I change then might all that I find hard to stomach might follow. Andrew and I were joking about Portugal this week, but there are circumstances under which I could conceive of that becoming reality. For me there is the dilemma of the possibilities and the impossibility of things like the previous addresses - how the Hell would I get the detai about Casa Eleodoro (my landlord), San Isidro, Distrito Aco, Ancash, Peru or Casa Hernan Vidal, Calle 2, El Planeta, Lima, Peru. I was 'registered' with the police in both BUT getting in contact with the right offices without at least six weeks round trip, etc. I am well above Andrew's 20 although since the 1970s I have had four main addresses I could give - although then giving my workplace details because I have some pension coming from Berlin as of late next year begins to make it all get messy. Parent's birth certificate's. They're long gone and neither my sister nor I know exactly where they were born. All too much effort as I found last try. Back to the point though. We live here, pay taxes, etc here so should contribute in terms of electing who also governs us and that has to be the main point. Attitude wise, if I was not so dependent on a passport for various things like travelling for work, I'd be happiest without something that rubber stamps me as of a particular political state. I live on this planet and that will do for me, whether I am a Scot, French, German or Antonio the icecream man is of little interest. Unfortunately, as yet there are no sympathetic bureacrats such as immigration officers...
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I simply do not see the link between the two. Being particularly Cartesian I see no logical reason why one should predetermine the other.
Is there a reason?
So let’s see if Hollande changes that.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin is actually sat one seat back from me on the train at the moment, perhaps I should ask him why.

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I know...it was a rather glib comment on my behalf...it just seems so many people unhappy about not having the right to vote...and there is an answer...albeit a nightmare procedure...like so many in France...its an option...its actually just as difficult to recapture Canadian citizenship....

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Valid point Carol and I agree. It's not quite that simple when you have a very busy prof and home life - the paperwork has been sitting in a file waiting to be filled out for ages now, but this being France there's so much to do including certified translated copies of my parents' birth certificates, divorce certs my birth certificate, a list of all my previous addresses - I've had well over 20 etc. I think they make it an administrative marathon, not difficult in itself, just so many hoops to jump through, to put people off!

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Read a lot of these comments with interest....if you have put your roots down in France...dont wish to return to the UK...pax taxes, have a family etc here...I really cannot understand why you dont take citizenship?

If you feel you give so much to France..and feel aggreived not to vote...you know what to do...you keep your UK citizenship anyway....my husband a Canadian...he didnt keep up his citizenship for Canada..but can reclaim it if he wishes at any time...

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I certain have agreed with Andrew on the single European ID card for some time. OK, if one can keep the original nationality then I revise my view. Some years back (1970s) when I seriously considered taking German nationality in order to have a particular job that I was assured (didn't because the formalities went long past when the deadlines were closed, thusexcluding me) but then one 'surrendered' the old nationality. All of that aside, I doubt I would do very well when Scotland v France was played! Anna, I agree about patriotism, but some of it is so much like the soccer team one follows from cradle to grave - i.e. ridiculous, but try not doing it.

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I second Andrew in his last post

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Hi Anna,

That's primarily the point. We have made a committment to citizenship. We eat, sleep and breathe France. I don' feel any committment to the UK, emotionally or otherwise. I certainly wouldn't vote there and to a certain extent couldn't really give a care as to what goes on there.

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But England -v- France in the 6 nations is always a difficult call!

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@Anna, the process seems simple but wait untill you download all the forms, plus the language requirement has now been introduced. As I've just said, I'd prefer a single European ID card and rights but if the EU ever went pearshaped I'd go for French nationality as my kids and OH are French, well kids are anglo-french but don't speak English yet and are for all intent and purpose 100% French as there's zero anglophone contact apart from me! I'm at a stage where the French flag makes far more sense to me than the English/British one. I was born there and grew up there, worked for years there but my whole life is here now and has been for a number of years