FRENCH HATCH NEW PLOT TO TAKE OVER EUROPE

France's Baby Boomlet (Matthew Kaminski, Wall Street Journal Europe, 5/22/2003)

[Paris], so associated with history, style and the pleasures of consenting adults, is today overrun by kids. Everywhere you turn, in a park or on a narrow street, babies. Naturally, there are plenty of pregnant women too. In my office, five out of eight people have just had or are expecting a child....

Hard numbers confirm the French, to the surprise of demographers and policy makers, are in a fecund mood, just when most European countries, especially their fellow Catholic Latins, are decidedly not. The fertility rate has nudged up to 1.9 children per woman, up from 1.6 eight years ago. France is now on a par with Ireland, Europe's most fertile land, and just a notch below the U.S., at 2....

Other Europeans can merely envy France's predicament. The rapid aging of Europe has long been acknowledged as a threat to state-funded pension schemes. But it may have other consequences too. The Continent might see its population decline in coming decades, opening up another, and perhaps most serious, gap with America. True to form, France has stepped up to check the power of a growing hegemon across the Atlantic....

The other day, a government clerk was giving me great trouble with my temporary residence card, when I mentioned my daughter. "Why didn't you say you were the father of a French national before," said the official, her tone annoyed, before giving me a warm smile. "That changes everything." As a small contributor to the greatness of France, I'm suddenly on the fast track for a passport.

For Francophobes like me, this report is very encouraging. If they're tackling their demographic crisis already, can addressing their economic woes be far behind? A little freedom may soon be on its way to France. And once it takes hold, why shouldn't our nations be friends? Posted by Paul Jaminet at May 22, 2003 8:30 AM