France and Greece Election results!

For teaching, I think every EU country has QTS or equivalent status to ensure familiarity in national language and curriculum before a teacher can begin. It is certainly not a stipulation that has been brought in because of the crisis.

I haven't seen Hollande's immediate priorities (or underlying assumptions and costings) so I do not know how significant a part the increase in teacher numbers is. The increase to minimum wage will of course not be restricted to French nationals.

There will be no more EU bailout cash for France (at least in the short term) as Hollande has pledged to pull them out of the current agreement (effective ending it, probably to Greece's detriment). And was France a recipient in the first place?

good for you, wasabi.

I only hire [including banks] when I need to, likewise when needs change, where I go also changes to match the needs. That's business.

Being hard on business also means I need to choose an acceptable social environment because no one else is looking after the business if the socio-political foundation starts to wobble.

People should try countries where you pay for obstetric services, they may not be as harsh when they see how far their insurance takes them.

Edith the point is that France is taking EU bailout cash but will restrict access to it's employment market against EU rules by specifying French qualifications without accepting EU equivalents.

My savings are fine thankyou Lady as I took responsibility at 18 for my finances and personal pension planning.

I also ensure my car insurance covers me comprehensively in case of accident as I also do for skiing and other activities I choose to take part in.

Those who choose otherwise do so at their own risk. as do people who wave their hands outside of the rollercoaster.

The state should offer nothing more than a safety net. Note a safety net is their to catch those who fall and are in imminent danger. The safety net is not there to carry them back to where they came from it is there to arrest the fall and they are to get off and ease themselves to the ground. People who sit on the safety net will quickly fill it up and leave little room for others dropping if they choose to stay there. People are free to climb back up but should take more care more personal responsibility or may end up back in the safety net. The safety net is not to be certified as a trampoline.

NovackNGood: not sure what you're getting at, but to teach in state schools in France, you have to have passed the appropriate French teaching examinations, which are constitute, not qualifying. I would be very much surprised if there were many candidates who were not resident in France (though they need not be French).

third hill - i am business. i just hired someone new this week. thats one more well paid job, in the middle of a recession. whats not to like?

Wow Edith and do you think that will be 60,000 jobs for all europeans as I know there are many qualified young Spanish who have passed their oposiciones and British grads who could take up maybe 40,000 of those post.

"underlapping" ?!? underlying

Newsround has just said Hollande will be hiring 60,000 more teachers and increasing the minimum wage. Anyone seen the underlapping assumptions and costing for this?

Also, in the other European election, Putin has won (as expected),

The state whether a democracy or not should not need to have a responsibility for solve all it's citizens choices. The state should take care of those big issues that require a overall view eg. Defence/law and order/infrastructure/basic even secondary education and that is about it really. The citizens should take responsibility for their own actions.

Some people also seem to point their fingers at individuals and say that some lived the high life on debt. Shame really because they themselves have probably profited from rising property prices over the same period. Yes individuals took on debt but many have done so because wages have been in decline for the past 30 years, whilst the cost of living has risen.

If only you could be harder on business and more forgiving about people, wasabi. Behaving the other way round makes for failure in both.

hear, hear, chibi

"We are under the thumb of bankers because we overspent in the good times."

who are the we you mean, wasabi? Because you will find the UK did not overspend. It was the toxic debt pot that the City had its fingers deep in that caused the crisis. For that the banks involved should have burned, and the banks that were clean should have risen. The best option now is [still] to default. Surely if you work in the City you'll know that is the consensus.

I have no preference one way for any bank, only a faster end to this manufactured extended market restructure.

regardless of your politics, and how you see debt, the relationship of wealth creators to the rest of a country, the responsibility of a democratic nation state to its citizens, i find it hard to comprehend the kind of mind that not only sees starvation as something people 'deserve', but positively delights in it, even where some of the sufferers are children

what a terribly fascinating worldview some posters have that they should delight so in human misery.

Austerity is strangling any chance of growth and to think that Greek people are neglecting their children's teeth to buy bread or even abandoning to the state is a disaster. I'm with OP, if this was a natural disaster every nation would be stepping in to help.

I campaign vigorously against Tory austerity, anti-State, Eton loving, Bullingdon gits - get rid like France - that will help Greece, Spain, Ireland, us

i dont need to know and this is getting rather tedious. so back to the OP....

good good... i am still wonder about you & greece though...

not the hoisting of a swastika over the Greek Parliament.

Many Athenians remember/ had family members who starved under German occupation. The current situation must remind many older people of those times. Hunger, depravation, etc.

Modern Greece is a young democracy/parliament. Context is all sometimes.