The Report can be found at <http://lesrapports.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/BRP/044000498/0000.pdf> (warning: long); see also <http://www.minefi.gouv.fr/minefi/actualites/actu2/index.htm> for background.
As widely reported (Le Monde, Le Figaro) it is largely a compilation of the standard neo-liberal recommendations that have been enunciated in a string of commissioned government reports and a few well publicized books (longer work hours, more "flexible" labour markets and laws, cut government spending, lower minimum wage, etc).
But the meaning of this Report is in the context of the fight WITHIN the Right between the traditionalist Chirac-Gaullist types (analogous to Christian Democracy or the wet Conservatives) and the hard-line neo-liberals (led by Sarkozy, who commissioned the Report and who is being forced to leave the Finance Ministry as he takes over the head of the Gaullist party and runs for President). The outcome of this struggle may well decide whether France joins the monolithic neo-liberal international coalition or remains an outlier. This struggle has been an ongoing war of attrition for a number of years resulting in a vacillating government policy.
Camdessus is uniquely positioned with credentials in both groups (besides the IMF and Bank de France, he and his wife have life-long involvements with Action Sociale the Catholic social welfare movement). He has astutely structured the composition of his Commission to include both the usual business executives/economist types (including Olivier Blanchard of MIT) AND catholic labor leaders/social service administrators, Catholic journalists etc. In a similar vein the Report is larded with concern that France's current policies have lead to greater poverty than more free market England (even after transfers) and high youth unemployment.
BUT all this social concern is marshalled in support of one side: the neo-liberal agenda - which is presented as the more "humane" alternative in the long run (my favorite: "permit" seniors the healthy benefit of working more years by reducing their benefits and changing "prejudiced" attitudes about work at old age). The Report is an attempt to craft a campaign vision (a sort of "Compassionate Conservatism") that Sarkozy can use in the coming big push for a hard neo-liberal agenda and he has said that he will use the Report as his "manual". In short it is an attempt to mobilize the social wing of the Gaullist movement behind the neo-liberal agenda.
Paul
From: "Tom Walker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
It's a mystery to me why the Financial Times report posted to Pen-l by Eubulides left out the Camdessus report's commentary blaming France's "growth gap" with the U.S. and U.K. of the last 20 years on shorter working hours or the fact that it called for an end to the "share-out logic." Anyway, it appears that Ian's intuition about the report was right even if the FT didn't mention it -- AFP reports did mention it. ......................................
