France set to open for business on Sundays
August 12, 2009 // 0 CommentsFrench businesses to open on traditional day of rest, breaking tradition of centuries
If you’ve ever visited Paris on a Sunday and lamented that your shopping time was curtailed, you can now whip out your credit card seven days a week.
In France, no shopping on Sundays has been a tradition for centuries, and an official rule since a 1906 law consecrated the day of rest, although bakeries, butchers and other small shops were allowed to open until noontime, so people could buy fresh food and supplies for the traditional Sunday family meal.
Now, following most of the rest of the Western world, France is set to adopt a policy that would allow certain businesses to operate on Sundays. The move is part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to boost the economy in France. The Senate approved the measure 165 to 159 on July 23. The lower house of parliament passed it July 15.
The new law permits shops, department stores, and shopping malls to open on Sundays in 20 zones known as “exceptional commercial” centers — or tourist zones — near three of the country’s largest cities: Paris, Marseilles, and Lille.
Sarkozy had plenty of ammunition to make his point. During the visit of President Obama and his family to Paris in June, special arrangements had to be made for Michelle Obama and her daughters to drop by the Bonpoint shop in Paris’ upscale 6th district on a Sunday afternoon. Before Parliament, Sarkozy posited, “Is it normal that on a Sunday, when Madame Obama wants to go shopping in Paris with her girls, that I have to make phone calls to get them to open? How are we supposed to explain to them that we are the only country where shops are closed on Sunday?” And more than half of the population prefers having the choice to shop on Sundays, opinion polls conducted in France have shown.
Sarkozy, however, had an uphill battle with the new law. For one thing, any sort of change to long-standing laws in France, however practical, is usually met with stiff opposition simply for the sake of upholding tradition. Then there is the concern for the worker. Leftist groups and unions in France are worried that allowing businesses to open on Sunday will make workers feel compelled to work on a day that should be their day off, and would give employers the green light to force them to do so, on threat of losing their jobs. Those willing to Work Sundays would be given preference over those who were
not.
Then there are the people in France concerned with religion. With church attendance in France down to a trickle already, some worry that Sunday operations will prevent people who are normally churchgoers from observing the traditional day of rest and attending church, and tempt others who might otherwise attend into a more attractive option, trading sermons for shopping.
So Sarkozy had to accept limitations to his original proposal, which would have allowed more types of businesses to open on Sundays in a wider area.
The new law will put an end to the hit-or-miss method of Sunday openings in recent years, in which some stores managed to get around the old law and others could not, and where even stores that could not get a special dispensation made the financial decision to accept fines for breaking the law because the income from Sunday sales more than made up for them.
Similar posts
-
What about a peaceful journey in China ?
January 31, 2012 // 0 CommentsFed up with the noisy town ? Fed up with the lack of oxygen ? Need to take a breath of fresh air...
-
What about a real life experience in China ?
January 31, 2012 // 0 CommentsIf you've always dreamt about living your life managing the stress which is growing up day after day...
-
Sportel Rio 2012, or how to meet all-important sport medias
January 18, 2012 // 0 CommentsOnce upon a time a Monegasque journalist who is totally keen of sport. Getting strong links with...
-
French gift ideas: decorative objects for the home inspired by Fr ...
July 28, 2011 // 0 CommentsFacing the Mediterranean Sea, the cities of Nice, Cannes or Menton attract many French Riviera lover...
