Why even Hollande's backyard says France isn't working And, six months after Mr Hollande's election, business leaders in Europe's second-largest economy are growing increasingly frustrated at his inability to sort out the country's own situation. The problem is that many of our politicians have no idea how to run a business. They are all lawyers or academics or PR people," said Mr Bothier, who backs the French president, but can sympathise with his critics. Jacques-Antoine Granjon, an internet pioneer whose Vente-Privee site had revenues of over a billion euros last year, said: "Entrepreneurs who want to succeed, with dreams and talent and passion, are being hampered every step of the way. It frightens me to see the situation at the moment. There is no energy, no ambition, and too much bureaucracy. We all need to work together, or else we are simply going to be eaten alive by the Chinese. Mr Hollande has unveiled a plan to improve the competitiveness of France's economy, by giving companies €20 billion in tax rebates, reducing red tape for businesses, and providing small companies with extra support to compete abroad. But in Corrèze, owners of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are asking whether the promises will be enough. In France, SMEs - which are considered the backbone of any economy - are stifled by layers of regulation which other European SMEs do not have to overcome. One study showed that France has just over 4,000 medium-sized enterprises - proportionately only half as many as Germany and Britain. A crucial point is that when a company grows to have more than 50 employees - moving from "small" to "medium" - a raft of 34 laws and regulations kick in. Some have argued that this discourages French businesses from expanding, thus putting a self-defeating brake on the economy. Mr Bothier, the businessman from Brive, will soon pass this milestone. In two months time Otago, his sportswear company, which manufactures rugby shirts and manages the merchandising for some of France's largest teams, will increase its staff from 42 to 60 employees. "As a medium sized company, it means we will need to have a worker's union," said Mr Bothier. It can make things complicated, as often you need to take swift decisions, and that's not always possibly with a militant unionised workforce. And talking to Corrèze businessmen - many of whom know Mr Hollande well from his time as president of the region - the twin problems of an inflexible labour force and a militant union culture come up time and time again. "The two huge issues facing France's business sector are the inflexibility of the workforce, and the fact that it's getting harder to find people to do the job," said one businessman, who runs a large transport company in the area. We have to recruit from Poland. Some local firms are offering €2,000 a month net for precision machine operators, and yet they can't find anyone. The tragedy for France is that Jacques Chirac had the opportunity to modernise the working environment, as Germany and Britain did in the 1980s. But he didn't take that opportunity. And that has been catastrophic for France. Like Mr Hollande, Mr Chirac claims Corrèze as his political heartland. Like his Socialist successor, Mr Chirac was an MP and then local governor. There is even a museum to Mr Chirac in the region, with displays of all the presents he received when president. In a darkly ironic parallel of his time at the helm of the region, the museum cost €10 million to build, and is losing €1 million a year. Economists agree that large levels of state spending is one of France's most worrying attributes. Almost 57 per cent of GDP goes on public spending - more than five points above Sweden, and 10 points above Germany. And Corrèze is the most indebted of all mainland France's 96 departments; something both sides of the political spectrum blame on each other's profligacy. Socialists claim Mr Chirac, when he was governor, built glory projects such as Brive airport. The opposition UMP claim that when Mr Hollande took over locally in 2008, he ushered in a wave of illogical spending - such as, in 2009, the issuing of iPads for a series of schoolchildren. Another bone of contention is France's notorious 35-hour week. Mr Bothier claims it is a vital part of French qualité de vie, and that his staff perform 39-hours worth of work in a frantically productive 35 hours. Others see it as emblematic of France's anti-business logic and restrictive working practices. "It's difficult to manage," said Christian Guionie, who owns Le Reliure du Limousin, a company which restores old books and documents. Sometimes there is a lot of work and you want to take extra people on, but it takes a huge amount of time and paperwork to contract additional employees. And sometimes you need to downsize your workforce, but it can take months and months to do. Mr Guionie's factory, in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Brive, is a hive of activity. Surrounded by piles of parchment and rolls of restorative fabrics, his highly specialised team repair First World War military records, wooden-covered 16th century property deeds, and maps of champagne vineyards from the mid 1800s. One woman is carefully binding books from Louis 14th's private library in Versailles, while another man tells how last week they were sent the only surviving written eyewitness account of the burning of Joan of Arc. Mr Guionie, passionate about his delicate work, has run the business for over 30 years. He has around 65 people working for him. But like many thousands of businessmen around France, he divides his work into two small companies - to avoid having one "medium" business, and thus having a unionised workforce. "I didn't want that," he said. Here the unions are political - not like in Germany, where they actually understand business economics. Here they want the benefits, but don't understand the context. I absolutely agree that we have to look after our workers, and I am proud that we have a very low turnover of staff here. But unions can act as a big brake on development. Some of his fellow business owners are recommending increasing the limit of a "small" business to 100 people, thus encouraging businesses to take on extra staff - a move he supports. He also says that governments should realise the importance of small businesses, rather than being blinded by the vast conglomerates. In just over a year Mr Guionie will retire and sell his company. Gallingly, he will lose 75 per cent of the proceeds in taxes - an initiative introduced by local man Mr Hollande. "It takes away the incentive really," he said. We are a small company entirely dependent on skilled manual labour - you couldn't do this with a machine. And yet that is not recognised - we are classed alongside internet start ups with miniscule overheads. The SMEs are being squeezed, and the law changes all the time. It's actually harder to run small company than one with 2,000 employees; at least then you would have a finance director or advisers, instead of having to be expert in everything. And it's tough to hand over 75 per cent of my company in sales tax - this is my life's work. He smiles wryly, and shrugs. C'est la vie. Mr Hollande, seeking to address some of these concerns, commissioned Louis Gallois, a highly-respected businessman, to produce a report. He called for a "competitiveness shock" to jump start the economy, with a Small Business Act to support SMEs and a reduction in costs faced by business owners. Significantly he did not touch some of the most controversial elements of French business culture; the 35-hour week, retirement at 60 (the youngest in Europe), and the 50-employee legislation tipping point. "It's a difficult moment, but we have to stay positive," said Isabelle Cessac, head of regional development agency Corrèze Expansion. She puts on a brave face - despite having had her staff reduced from five to two when Francois Hollande came to power in 2008. This is a beautiful place, with a diversified business culture and plenty of natural resources. We'll make it. She added, through only slightly clenched teeth: "We have to make it."