How should France respond to its structural problems?

France’s long list of structural problems is well known: low labour force skills, an underperforming education system, weak corporate modernisation, high labour costs given the level of product sophistication, a tax burden that hampers companies. These structural problems explain France’s deindustrialisation, deteriorating foreign trade, low employment rate, declining per capita income, etc. Moreover, these myriad structural problems are above all leading to a deterioration in France’s situation relative to the other euro-zone countries, which complicates matters . Broadly speaking, France can respond in two possible ways: Protectionism and isolation , including with respect to other European countries, in order to prevent these structural problems from leading to continued deindustrialisation and offshoring. No effort would then be made to correct these problems; In contrast, by using foreign competition as an incentive to modernise companies, reform the education and training system and reform taxation. This strategy would obviously take time and not bear fruit in the short term.