Sarko Defies Leftist Opposition

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to his credit,  is not flinching in his latest policy move to modernize France - modest retirement reform by boosting the minimum age by only two years, from 60 to 62. (LeFigaro: Sarkozy confiant malgré le durcissement du conflit - Sarkozy confident despite escalation of conflict).

Even this timid effort sent the usual crybaby suspects spilling into la rue (the street) from the alphabet soup of Hard Left les syndicats (trade unions) to the actual group that has most to lose if he fails - militant students - all in an attempt to defend the indefensible status quo.

The government claimed victory today in the numbers game (''la mobilisation a été la plus faible depuis le début du mois de septembre'' - Le Parisien - mobilization was the weakest since September) as les syndicats protested to the contrary. Le Figaro figures a 10% inflation in the numbers given by les syndicats.

Just when it seemed France was headed for a showdown on Monday since the refinery unions cut oil supply  to airports nationwide, including Charles de Gaulle, the most important, outside Paris, even that service has been restored ( L'oléoduc qui livre Roissy et Orly est à nouveau en service - Le Parisien - The pipeline that delivers Roissy and Orly is back in service).

While it is not perfectly clear Sarkozy has escaped an apparent cul-de-sac taking on the entrenched Hard Left labor and its allies yet again, he is to be saluted for his courage and vision to bring sanity to France's sclerotic economic growth and structural barriers holding back its progress.
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