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FRENCH LANGUAGE

Can France really force foreign labourers to speak français?

The move to force labourers in France to speak French has proven divisive. So is it a good move for safety or is it just the latest form of thinly disguised xenophobia?

Can France really force foreign labourers to speak français?
Photo: AFP
A new rightwing talking point has entered the political debate ahead of France's presidential elections: should foreign workers be required to speak French on building sites?
   
Six of France's 13 regions have adopted rules mandating French for labourers on state-funded building projects, drawing fire for trying to fan xenophobic sentiment ahead of the two round April-May vote for president.
   
With unemployment stuck at around 10 percent for years, polls show that jobs are the leading concern of French voters, with unfair competition for French companies from abroad a perennial political interest.
   
Although some backers have justified it as a security issue — workers might not be able to communicate unless they share a common language — others admit its aim is to prevent labourers from eastern Europe undercutting locals.
   
“It's an essential condition for the safety of building site workers,” said Valerie Pecresse, president of the Paris region Ile de France upon approving the rule for its public works last week.
   
The new language rule, which does not affect private building sites, is dubbed the “Moliere clause” after the 17th-century icon of French letters.
   
Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Wednesday said the rightwing backers of the language requirement aimed to “make election hay” out of a measure he called “openly discriminatory”.
   
The measure may run counter to European rules on public procurement, which bar discrimination on the grounds of nationality.
 
'Not love of language' 
 
Of particular concern in France is a separate EU rule allowing companies to bring in workers from eastern European temporarily who must be paid the French minimum wage — but are exempt from high French social charges.
   
The measure “is not inspired by the love of our language but by the goal of impeding competition from foreign companies using foreign workers,” Cazeneuve added.
   
Socialist lawmaker Gilles Savary said: “Don't be fooled, it's just electoral posturing with an undercurrent of xenophobia.”
   
He said there are no accident statistics to back up the safety claims, and even if it were applied across the country it would not prevent low-cost labour since French-speaking workers are available from France's many former colonies.
   
According to the labour ministry's policy unit, some 285,000 foreign workers are in France under a 1996 EU directive originally aimed at allowing companies to hire workers with specialised skills from other member states on a temporary basis.
   
Though the number has grown steadily over the years, it represents only one percent of the country's overall workforce.
 
Polish plumbers
 
In practise, many companies use the programme to bring in cheap labour, often from eastern Europe, in what is termed “social dumping” in France as local workers are priced out of jobs.
  
It dates from long before 10 mostly ex-communist states joined the EU in its 2004 big bang expansion.
   
Today, around one-sixth of France's foreign workers are from Poland.
   
The directive is under review because of abuses such as undeclared workers, workers being paid far less than the minimum wage, or overstaying the maximum period allowed.
   
The head of the employers' federation opposes the Moliere clause, warning of a slippery slope.
   
“You start with that and then you start to play favourites,” said Medef chief Pierre Gattaz, warning against “nationalist” excesses.    
 
“Then you close the French borders and end up leaving the eurozone.”
   
These are planks in the platform of far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who for her part dismissed the Moliere clause as a devious half-measure, calling for the outright scrapping of the 1996 EU directive.
   
“When you don't want to say things clearly… you take circuitous routes,” she said.
  
Polls currently suggest Le Pen would win the first round of the election on April 23, but lose in the run-off on May 7 against independent centrist Emmanuel Macron.
 
'Poor Moliere' 
 
The debate is reminiscent of the run-up to a 2005 national referendum that rejected a draft European constitution partly over fears — fanned by the far-right — of a flood of cheap labour from eastern post-communist states.
   
Denis Bertrand, a prominent semiologist — specialising in the creation of meaning — said calling the rule the “Moliere clause” was manipulative.
  
“Why this rule all of a sudden?” asked Bertrand, a professor of French literature at Paris University.
   
“Asking a hardhat to speak the language of Moliere is a bit grotesque… Poor Moliere, a great genius is having his name used by people who are unworthy of him,” he told AFP.

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

8 favourite French words of the Day

More words and phrases from the fabulous French language – including a useful argument phrase, the poetic term for ugly crying, one phrase that is a warning of an impending temper tantrum, and a handy guide to online terms...

8 favourite French words of the Day

Every weekday The Local publishes a French word or phrase of the day. We try to focus on colloquialisms, slang, sayings (and a bit of swearing) – you know, the type of French you won’t learn in the classroom, but will hear all the time in the street.

This daily habit means we have a very extensive back catalogue – find it here – and we’ve picked out eight of our recent favourites.

N’importe quoi

If you are ever involved in an argument in France, and the chances are you will be, you are going to need this French expression that means one of ‘no matter what’, ‘anything’, ‘whatever’, ‘nonsense’, ‘rubbish’ – or even ‘bullshit!’.

We get to the bottom of how that all works, here.

Éclater en sanglots 

Honestly, the French language is routinely much more poetic than English, as its version of ugly crying beautifully and … well, poetically … demonstrates.

Éclater en sanglots – roughly pronounced ay-clah-tay ahn san-glow – means to burst into tears (or sobs). Éclater is the verb to burst, while sanglot is a wonderful term for the ‘spasm causing contractions of the diaphragm and accompanied by tears’.

Try not to blub as you read more, here.

Zut

It’s a bit old-fashioned now, but this polite exclamation of frustration is always fun… And no, it’s not ‘zut alors‘ despite what your school textbooks told you.

Read more, here.

En lice

This phrase, dating back some 800 years or so, is a good one to know for the end of the French rugby or football seasons, and the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

The expression actually refers to being part of a competition or tournament. In English, we might say ‘in the running’ or ‘in the fray’. 

Get up to speed with the term here.

Péter un câble

You may want to make like Homer Simpson and back away carefully into a hedge if you hear someone say “je vais péter un câble”. Because it means they’re very close to losing their temper in a dramatic and not entirely constructive manner…

We explain, here.

Raccrocher au nez

If you feel the urge to hang up on the 15th cold caller to offer you protection juridique, and miss the days when you could slam the phone back down on its cradle, rather than simply pressing a button, this is the phrase for you.

Wait… don’t hang up… find out more, here.

L’effet waouh

Don’t be fooled by the odd spelling – l’effet waouh is no false friend: it really does mean the ‘wow factor’. Similar to the English-language version, in French it can basically be used for anything that elicits a sense of surprise, shock or curiosity – from red carpet outfit to the age of the French Prime Minister…

Learn about the French version of wow factor, here.

Brûler les étapes

Not something you usually want to do – even if you’re in a rush – “burning the steps” means to cut corners, as we explain (in full) here.

One final thing – as we’re nearly a quarter-of-a-century into the 21st century, it’s probably time to catch up on some key French online terms.

How to talk email, websites, social media and phone numbers in French

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