MOVING TO FRANCE

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KEY FACTS

Official Name: Republic of France
Capital City: Paris
Official Languages: French
Area: 220,088 sq. mi./ 547,030 sq. km
Population: 64 million
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim
Currency: Euro
Number of Time Zones: 1
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) + 1 hr., Eastern Standard Time (EST) + 6 hrs.; Daylights savings time: late March – late September
Weights and Measures: Metric system
Country Domain: .fr
Country Tel Code: 33

AT A GLANCE

The largest country in Western Europe, France has long been a dominant force in world and European affairs.
The French take great pride in their country and their culture. Their language has been diluted by idioms from other languages, especially English and there is genuine fear that their unique culture is in danger. Some French also resent the increasing numbers of immigrants, especially those who do not integrate into the local culture.
Politics
The French are accustomed to a centralized government providing support and benefits to the people. Governmental power is concentrated in Paris. The country is governed under the constitution of the Fifth Republic, adopted in 1958. The most powerful political office is the presidency. Elected for a term of five years, the president is both head of state and executive head of government. He is responsible for foreign affairs, appoints the prime minister, presides over the cabinet, Conseil des Ministres, and may dissolve parliament and call for new elections. The prime minister is responsible to parliament, presides over the administrative bureaucracy, submits legislation to the parliament, and is responsible for its execution once it has become law.
The French parliament is composed of a 577-member National Assembly, Chambre des Deputées, which is directly elected every five years, and a 321-member Senate, Senat, indirectly elected by a college of some 130,000 local councilors. The Assembly is virtually a part-time legislature since it is only in session 120 days a year. Most members hold local elected office.
Economy
France is primarily a free-market economy, but with an extensive government presence in key sectors. Its central location in a unified European market, productive, skilled workers and reputation for quality products and services are among its many economic advantages which have led to it becoming one of the world’s leading economic powers.
Unemployment is a topic of concern and attempts to scale back social welfare programs and institute new economic policies have been met with popular resistance.

UNDERSTANDING THE PEOPLE

The French were originally a mixture of Celtic, Latin, and Teutonic stocks. This ethnic mixture lasted for centuries, but between the two world wars of the 20th century approximately three million immigrants came to France, primarily Slavic peoples and Portuguese. More recently North Africans, Algerians, and Asians have dominated France’s immigration statistics.
About 75 percent of France’s 58 million people live in towns of 2,000 or more inhabitants. Relative to other European countries, urbanization has been a recent development. At the end of World War II, the majority of the population still lived on farms or in villages and small towns. Rapid post war industrial growth and agricultural modernization spurred a large-scale migration to the cities, doubling or tripling the size of some, such as the high-tech industrial center of Toulouse in the southwestern part of the country. Population density varies from 907 per square km in the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, to 51 in Burgundy and 42 in Limousin.
France benefits from a healthier age pyramid than is the European norm. It has fewer elderly people relative to the large number of postwar births. The average age of the population is around 37 years, with only 15 percent of the population over 65. The French enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world and have established a generous social welfare system.
Ethnic makeup
France traditionally has had a high level of immigration. Over 3.5 million foreigners now live in France, one-third of them in the Paris area. Nearly 2 million are from other European Union countries, notably Portugal, Italy, and Spain. Some 200,000 others are political exiles from former Communist countries of Europe, Indochina, and Latin America. Many have been in France for two or three generations, and nearly all have been accepted by the French.
Another sizable minority of immigrants that were assimilated, although not without lingering tension in some areas, are the 800,000 pieds noirs or “black feet,” French citizens repatriated from Algeria at its independence in 1962.
A more difficult group for the French to absorb are the Muslims, approximately six million, who have flooded into France since the early 1960s. They are mostly Algerians and other North Africans, but there are also some Middle Easterners. Their darker skins and different culture and religion set them apart, and they have made less effort to assimilate and adopt the French culture. They form a large subculture, living largely in ghetto-like housing in older sections and on the outskirts of major cities. The focus of rising racial and ethnic antagonisms, they have become a sensitive political issue in recent years.
Cultural traditions
2,000 years of history have given the French an ancient and rich culture, as well as a remarkable national identity. Paris was one of the essential ingredients of the “Grand Tour” so popular with wealthy young Europeans in earlier centuries. The French are intensely nationalistic with a pride in their country and culture which may at times border on arrogance; la Belle France is not an empty slogan but a fervent belief.
The country’s art and architecture, the achievements of the kings, victories on the battlefields at home and abroad, as well as their writers, dramatists, actors, scientists, explorers and famous statesmen are widely celebrated, both at home and internationally.
Cultural issues and politics are often intertwined. In an effort to make French culture more accessible to everyone, the government has ambitious programs to upgrade facilities including the renovation of the Louvre and the additional opera at La Bastille and to bring culture to people via the media. France, and particularly Paris, has an abundant cultural life. Music, theater, ballet, art, and film are offered in all the major cities and in many smaller ones also. Paris has over 100 museums displaying art, science, history, fashion, and even food.
Wine and food cannot be excluded from a discussion of French culture. For the French, these are elevated to a status comparable to the arts and sciences.
Class distinctions in France are still strong. Status is determined more by racial and ethnic background, ancestry, education, and profession, than by wealth. Money, however, is often part of the equation. These distinctions are often taken for granted and are seldom discussed except in purely political terms such as the opposing interests of professionals and workers.
Religion
Once a powerful force in French society, the Roman Catholic Church has lost much of its power. Although a large proportion of the population is baptized Catholic, less than 15 percent are active churchgoers. Muslims, on the other hand, are growing in numbers and influence. With around six million people they now form the second largest group. In addition to the substantial Islamic segment, France is host also to Western Europe’s largest Jewish community. Protestants are also represented, while roughly l6 percent of the population claim no specific religious affiliation. Church and state were formally separated in 1905, although the Catholic Church remains influential in education, maintaining many private schools outside the public system.

CITIES

Bordeaux
City website (in French)
Located on the southwest coast, Bordeaux is France’s second largest Atlantic port. It is also the center of the world’s foremost wine-growing region, and for centuries wine exporting has been the basis of its economy. Area wineries and summer wine festivals continue to attract attention and visitors.
In recent times, high-tech industries – including electronics, aerospace, and missile production – have sprung up around Bordeaux. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals are also of growing importance. Bordeaux is also home to one of France’s most esteemed architectural research centers, Arc en rêve.
The city is a mixture of beautiful 18th-century architecture and modern districts, often referred to by the locals as quarters. The geography is quite flat, making the city friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists. About one million people live in the greater Bordeaux metropolitan area, and student and foreigner communities are strong.
Lille
City website
An industrial center in a heavily populated region of northern France, Lille is the center of the cluster of towns and cities known as “The Métropolis of the North.” The combined population of the metropolitan area, which includes parts of Belgium, is almost two million. Until fairly recently France’s premier “Rust Belt,” the region has undergone an economic restructuring. Electronics and other technology-intensive operations have supplanted the old heavy industries. It has also become the center for the country’s mail-order sector.
Situated close to the Belgian border and near the Channel coast, Lille is an important crossroads in the European high-speed rail network. Its position on the Eurostar and TGV networks give Lille ready access to London, Brussels, Paris, and other major French cities.
Lyon
City website
One of Europe’s most dynamic cities and home to many research centers, export-oriented industries, and international firms, Lyon is second to Paris in the size of its metropolitan population and economic importance. It is divided into nine municipal arrondissements, each of which is identified by a number and has its own council and town hall. Chemical, oil refining, truck building, and metallurgical industries form the economic base of the region. High-tech industries are concentrated on the east bank of the Rhône, in an area known as La Part-Dieu.
Lyon itself is a beautiful city set on two rivers, the Rhône and the Saône. There are tree-lined boulevards, parks, and museums. Lyon is considered the culinary capital of France. The city’s elite puts greater store on fine dining at the numerous great restaurants as a status symbol than on personal possessions.
Marseille
City website (in French)
Located on the Mediterranean Sea, Marseille is France’s leading port and the third largest in Europe. It has a population of approximately one million and, until the recent rise of Lyon, long ranked as France’s second largest city. In addition to the ship industry and related trades, Marseille’s economy is based on oil refining, steel, chemicals, and textiles. More recently electronics, aeronautics, and petrochemical industries have begun to play an increasingly important role. Modern Marseille has a large immigrant population, mostly from North Africa, and racial tension and a high crime rate are continuing problems. It also has an unattractive reputation as a center of drug-trafficking and organized crime and gang activity.
Paris
City website
With over 12 million in the metropolitan region, the national capital is France’s largest city and one of the great cities of the world. Revolutions played out in Paris have affected the entire civilized world. It dominates the nation politically, culturally, and economically. Its industrial importance has declined somewhat with government policies of diversification and the rise of new manufacturing centers elsewhere in recent decades. Nevertheless, Paris remains the preeminent center of business activity and service-oriented business. Financial institutions and almost all major French companies have their main offices here.
The wide boulevards and fin de siécle architecture dates largely from the Second Empire (1852-70), when Baron Georges Eugéne Haussmann, commissioned by Napoleon III, superimposed the pattern of broad thoroughfares on the narrow, twisting streets of the old Paris. In addition to beautification, a primary purpose of this early example of urban redevelopment was to make suppression of riots and rebellion easier by providing troops with clear lines of fire.
In the modern city, the Right Bank of the Seine is the commercial and shopping center, with fashionable streets and shops and many monuments and cultural institutions, such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. The Left Bank is the governmental and intellectual quarter, with most of the units of the University of Paris and parliament.
Strasbourg
City website
A picturesque and prosperous city on the banks of the Rhine River, Strasbourg has changed hands between the Germans and French several times in recent centuries. The city is a blend of traditions from both cultures. Ethnically of German origin, the people of the region nevertheless contribute many leaders to French politics and business. While city dwellers are mostly bilingual, the Alsatian dialect of German is more likely to be used in rural areas.
Strategically important for more than 2,000 years, Strasbourg is today the seat of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Court of Human Rights. The city is the center of an important wine-growing region. Other industries include brewing, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and textiles. In the areas of banking and finance, Strasbourg is second only to Paris in importance.
Toulouse
City website (in French)
Toulouse, with its many high-tech industries now ranks as France’s 6th most important urban center. The four-nation Airbus Industrie consortium is headquartered in Toulouse, as are numerous other aeronautics and electronics enterprises, as well as some 300 research facilities and the French government’s ambitious space program. The activity has attracted numerous foreign technology-oriented concerns. Toulouse’s metropolitan population is over 1 million, and one of the fastest growing in Europe.
Vélizy
City website (in French)
Vélizy-Villacoublay is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris about 13.9 km/8.6 mi from the center and 3.2 km/2 miles east of Versailles. Vélizy-Villacoublay is a very urbanized town bordering the Meudon forest, which spans over 300 hectares/1.1 sq mi of communal land. Velizy’s population is currently in excess of 20,000 people. The weather is very pleasant during summer with an average temperature of between 17-23°C)/63-73°F, while the average temperature during the colder months is between 4 and 8°C/39 and 46°F .
Vélizy is an industrial zone and attracts primarily French businesses such as Dassault Systems, Fichet-Bauche, Thales, but also Sun Microsystems, G.E., to name a few. The city does not attract a large expat population or even a residential population due to the high concentration of businesses located there.

CLIMATE

Northern and western France generally have cool winters and mild summers. Autumns are rainy, and winters come early. April, particularly in the Paris area, can be damp with rain so fine it just hangs in the air. Southern France has a Mediterranean climate, with hot summers and mild winters and in some areas a fierce wind, Le Mistral, which blows from the north during the winter months. The mountains in the Southeast are snowy enough in winter to offer excellent skiing.

Information provided in association with Living Abroad