Reforms in France. The report advises France to continue its reform efforts, concentrating on three priorities.
1) The first is to create a model of “flexicurity”, beginning with increasing flexibility within companies, which are less able to adjust to economic fluctuations compared to their German equivalents. To this end, the report advises the loosening of the rules on ‘job preservation agreements’ (which allow companies “facing severe economic difficulties” to make provisional changes to wages, employment and working time, in exchange for a commitment to job preservation) and the introduction of “accords offensifs” (offensive agreements) to address increased competition and to act in a preventative manner — as opposed to a “defensive” one— to a sudden economic change.