Sarkozy vows to change economic landscape

By Swaha Pattanaik

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday he was determined to shape France's economic landscape, regardless of the international environment, and expressed hopes that 2008 would see the demise of the iconic 35-hour work week.

At a time when high oil prices and financial turmoil sparked by problems in the U.S. subprime market are casting clouds over the economic outlook, Sarkozy told a news conference the real brakes on French growth were homemade.

"The international situation is less good than you could have hoped for. But if it wasn't this problem it would be another, and anyway, what can we do about it," he said.

"What do we want to do, subprime crisis or not, a mediocre international climate or not? Liberate the forces of work in France. France's problem is known, we don't work enough while others work more... What's subprime got to do with that?"

Sarkozy's economic strategy has been founded on a drive to encourage people to work more and while his poll ratings have fallen in recent weeks, he did not flinch from traditionally taboo subjects, such as scrapping the 35-hour work week.

Asked whether he hoped 2008 would mark the end of a flagship measure introduced a decade ago when the opposition Socialists were in power, Sarkozy gave his clearest indication he wants to dismantle fully the work time limit: "To say what I think, yes."

Trade unions immediately went on the offensive.

"The president has finally said what his policy is putting in place, that is, the end of the 35-hour work week. In fact, his policy goes a lot further and he wants to put an end to any legal limit on working time," the Force Ouvrire union said.

Plans are already in the pipeline to continue the piecemeal erosion of the 35-work week implemented by successive centre-right UMP governments, for example with a proposal to make some firms exempt from the limit in return for wage rises.

Sarkozy also said he wanted to ensure the wealth generated by companies was better shared between shareholders and employees, for example by a wider distribution of stock options within firms.

ACTION ON ALL FRONTS

The opposition Socialists criticized the two-hour news conference for being skimpy on concrete proposals to address the French public's prime concerns, such as purchasing power.

But with recent polls showing voters' growing disenchantment with government action on such issues, Sarkozy was at pains to pre-empt such attacks.

"Purchasing power is an expectation but that's not the only thing. Reducing political debate to the sole question of purchasing power is absurd," he said.

Fielding a wide range of questions, including on whether he planned to marry former model Carla Bruni, African representation in international organizations, and the health service, Sarkozy sought to burnish his image as a man of action.