France

E

Energy

Only about 10 per cent of France’s electricity output is generated in thermal installations using coal, petroleum products, or natural gas. About 11 per cent is produced by hydroelectric facilities. No nation is more dependent on atomic power: about 78 per cent of France’s electricity is generated by nuclear power plants. A tidal power facility makes use of the tides of the English Channel in the lower Rance, near St-Malo, in Brittany. In the early 1990s France had an installed electricity-generating capacity of about 105.3 million kW, and production in 2003 was approximately 536.9 billion kWh.

F

Currency and Banking

The basic monetary unit was formerly the franc of 100 centimes, but as part of France’s commitment to the European single currency it adopted Euro notes and coins as from January 1, 2002. As at early 2007, 0.77 Euros equalled US$1. The Banque de France, which was founded in 1800, nationalized in 1946, and given independence in 1994, is the bank of issue. Among other leading banks are Crédit Agricole, Banque Nationale de Paris, Crédit Lyonnais (state-owned), Société Générale, and Banques Populaires. About 10 per cent of the French workforce is employed in business and finance.

G

Commerce and Trade

Paris is at the centre of France’s domestic and foreign trade, but other large cities, such as Marseille and Lyon, also play an important role in the country’s commercial life. French commerce has long been characterized by a preponderance of small shops, and most stores are still of the privately owned, small-scale variety, despite a growing trend towards big department stores and supermarkets. About 74 per cent of the labour force is employed in trade and services.

France is one of the world’s great trading nations, and its foreign commerce includes a wide variety of goods. Throughout the 1980s the country imported more than it exported each year, mainly because of its heavy foreign purchases of crude petroleum, but by the mid-1990s it had managed to reverse the trend. In 2004 French imports cost US$431 billion and were made up chiefly of crude petroleum, food and live animals, machinery, chemicals, iron and steel, transport equipment, and other manufactured goods, such as precision instruments, clothing, and textiles. In the same year exports earned US$411 billion. They included machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, food and live animals, refined petroleum, clothing, textiles, and wine. More than half of France’s foreign trade is with the EU, especially Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy; while the United States, the successor republics of the USSR, and Japan are also important trade partners. France plays a leading role in the foreign commerce of some of its former overseas possessions, such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Côte d’Ivoire.

H

Labour

The French workforce totalled about 27.1 million people in 2005. About 8 per cent of French workers were members of trade unions in 1995, compared with 18 per cent in 1980. The Force Ouvriére has about 1 million members and is the largest labour organization in France. Some 640,000 belong to the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), and the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT), a Roman Catholic-oriented organization, has some 570,000 members. Minimum wages are established by government decree, but pay scales are determined by collective bargaining. The government administers comprehensive insurance programmes for workers.

I

Transport

France has one of the most highly developed transport systems in Europe. The country has more than 28,500 km (17,710 mi) of main roads, including some 9,000 km (5,593 mi) of limited-access autoroutes; in all, the road network measures more than 891,290 km (553,822 mi). In the mid-1990s, over 30 million motor vehicles were in use (1 for every 1.9 people); there were 495 passenger cars per 1,000 people in 2003. The French railways were partly nationalized in 1938. In 2005 there were 29,286 km (18,197 mi) of railway track, 13,572 km (8,434 mi) of which were electrified. France is particularly noted for the high-speed train à grande vitesse (TGV) which runs on several main lines and with a total track length of 1,200 km (746 mi). France has about 8,500 km (5,282 mi) of navigable inland waterways, including some 4,425 km (2,750 mi) of canals. The French merchant fleet comprises about 215 vessels of more than 100 gross registered tonnes. France has two main airlines: Air France, which was privatized in the early 1990s and operates flights to most parts of the world, and Air Inter, which offers service within the country. One large private international airline, Union de Transports Aériens (UTA), also operates, along with several small private companies offering national and international service. In 1990 Air France, Air Inter, and UTA merged. The chief airports are Charles de Gaulle and Orly, both near Paris. Other major international airports are at Bordeaux (Mérignac), Lille, Lyon (Satolas), Marseille-Provence, Nice-Côte d’Azur, Strasbourg (Entzheim), Toulouse (Blagnac), and Nantes (Atlantique).