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On July 15 the Mairie de Paris’s latest weapon against cars and pollution will debut. Say hello to Vélib’. Say goodbye to gridlock on the périphérique, scarce parking spots, and boring metro commutes. Thanks to this program, rental bicycles will be made available to Parisians and visitors alike.
Seven hundred fifty automated stations at intervals of 300 meters (a little over a quarter of a mile) will dispense 10,600 bikes.

Thomas Legrand*, the associate chief editor of the political desk at RTL, the most popular radio channel in France (9 million listeners daily), is currently covering the presidential campaign. We interviewed him on March 21, exactly one month before the first round.

How do you characterize this presidential campaign?

As France enters the final stages of the presidential elections, public airwaves will have space for little else. To help you follow the race—and participate in the heated debates—we’ve prepared a succinct cheat sheet.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE CANDIDATE ONLINE! www.theparistimes.com

Until the first round of the presidential elections, which takes place on April 21 and 22, the twelve candidates (those who successfully gathered the required 500 signatures from elected officials by March 19) will be granted by law equal time on television and radio. It will be impossible to follow anything else (though to even out funding inequalities, TV ads and large mural posters are banned).

Before running for the hills (or for an accountant), take a look at some of the basics:

French Déclaration des revenues 2006
This year, discover the new pre-completed form n° 2042! The government kindly fills out your income information to “simplify” the process. Beware: carefully verify the information and make adjustments wherever necessary. This form will be mailed in early May for a filing deadline currently set for May 31, 2007. If you don’t receive the form, request it. The wealth tax is to be self-assessed separately.
If you file your tax return electronically, you will receive both a filing extension and a 20 € rebate. www.impots.gouv.fr

U.S. Expats

There are now 63.4 million French people to deal with. Last month, the INSEE, the French Institute of Statistics, released the official figure, confirming what has become apparent over the last few years—with curved bellies flourishing under pullovers and barrage of pushchairs hogging pavement space: France is witnessing a baby-boom.

Not since 1981 has a higher figure been recorded in France. With 830,900 births in 2006, satisfied politicians announced “a successful year for births,” though not quite the level that was reached in 1949, when the post-war boom (in a less populated France) reached 872,700 births.

Last August, the French parliament passed a bill, Contrat nouvelles embauches or CNE (Contract for New Hires), which made it easier for businesses with fewer than 20 employees to hire—and fire—new recruits. No fuss erupted. Encouraged by the relative calm, the government decided to apply a similar scheme called the Contrat premier emploi or CPE (First Job Contract) for people under 26, of which 23 percent are unemployed. But meanwhile the opposition, including students, had awakened. The CPE allows employers to fire young workers anytime within two years without stating a reason. Firms offering long-term positions after two years are given three-year tax breaks.

Companies that employ more than 250 people have to make CPE participants 1% of their workforce from January next year and 3% by 2008.

Parisian: someone whose legacy of sophistication can be traced back to the Parisii tribe and the times of Caesar. Though this makes a pretty story, it’s actually a creation myth. Paris has long been one of Europe’s most permeable entrance points for immigrants.

“Scratch many of these people and you’d find they come from somewhere else,” suggests Colin Jones, a historian whose book, Paris: the Biography of a City, will be released in paperback in March.

A poignant tale of immigration and achievement, a book* published before the riots proposed tools to understand—and help solve—France’s current identity crisis. We interviewed the authors on the unrest.

Interview by Julie Pecheur

The son of a Moroccan worker who migrated to France in the 1970s, Aziz Senni grew up with five siblings in Val-Fourré, a nasty neighborhood of Mantes-la-Jolie, in the Yvelines region (east of Paris). In 2000, with government help and considerable willpower, Mr. Senni managed, at 23, to start his own business: a network of minivans (“cheaper than a taxi, faster than a bus”) for private and corporate clients. Today A.T.A. (Alliance Transport Accompagnement), whose headquarters are still located in Mantes, has spread to five cities throughout France and employs over forty people, with annual sales of 1.5 million euros.