Michelle Obama opens doors in France
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PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Michelle Obama’s Sunday shopping stop during a visit to Paris this month underscored his demand for looser rules that limit stores’ opening hours.
“Is it normal that when Mrs. Obama and her daughters, on a Sunday, want to go shopping in Paris stores, I have to make a call to get the shops to open?’’ Sarkozy said yesterday in the Paris suburb of La Defense. “All the Obama supporters were there. Who is going to explain to them why France is the only country where shops are closed on Sundays?’’
French labor laws limit retailers’ right to open on Sundays to five days a year unless the venue has “recreational’’ or “cultural’’ value. Current rules limit job creation at retailers because they miss out on tourists and encourage households living near French borders to spend abroad on Sundays, according to Sarkozy. The French government will present a bill to loosen Sunday labor rules in coming weeks, he said.
