When France sneezes ...

[CHIMO]

The fifth republic has run out of breath, declared François Bayrou, the leader of France's centrist UDF party last week, after the landmark 'no' vote in the referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty. It was a sentiment echoed by Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the parliamentary socialists. 'This is the end of a political cycle,' he said. 'There are parallels with the death of the Fourth Republic.'

French youth culture wants to embrace the latest from Britain or America, but also wants to be French and doesn't know how. Four years after university, 40 per cent of graduates are still unemployed.

Ariane Chemin, a writer for Le Monde, captured contemporary France perfectly in her piece on Compiègne, a typical commuter town 64 kilometres east of Paris. With the aid of some local estate agents, she plotted the 'no' vote against the price per square metre of property, advancing through the town and its outlying villages quarter by suburban quarter.

The correlation between low property prices and readiness to vote no was perfect. The part of town where the Africans were most visible and social housing most evident registered the biggest no vote at 77.24 per cent.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1504645,00.html