German social security taxes are lower than French, unemployment benefits last less long and so on.
French environmentalists say the economic benefits of nuclear energy are far outweighed by the dangers of its byproducts and their storage.
The French tradition is that the benefits are an unconditional right.
World War I camofleurs concentrated on hardware like artillery and ships, with the British soon catching up on the French after initial reservations about the military benefits of Cubism, despised by some as "Boche art".
The problem is that the French are too expensive because of their particular benefits.
The French state extending into Africa to bring the benefits of commerce and Christianity to what all Europe considered the dark places of the world.
It was a feature of the French election campaign that poorer voters were disillusioned with the benefits of globalisation, with the European project and the prospect of prolonged austerity.
The French are proud of their cradle-to-grave welfare benefits, and do not give them up without a good old theatrical fight.
For years the French elected politicians who were happy to sustain the illusion that generous benefits and snug protections were indefinitely affordable by building up the debts they leave to future generations.
But they also embrace the benefits of competition and liberal economic policies: policies that the French president and his supporters strenuously oppose.
The court found that the tax treatment on stock options, private retirement benefits and bearer bonds were all violations of the law under the French tax system.
It is even more unusual that the leader should be Sarkozy, especially as he came to power on a platform of rupture with the French comforts of old: the 35-hour working week, toasty public-sector employment benefits and a generally negative attitude towards workaholism.
After months of debate, the French Cabinet took on the proposal despite past declarations of support from Jospin for the technology's potential benefits in treating and curing disease.
"This isn't going to be an excuse to eat French fries all day and watch TV but is a way to augment your healthy lifestyle and give you the ultimate benefits of perfect health which your body is capable of, " Professor Sinclair told the BBC.
BBC: Stop, rewind: the scientists slowing the ageing process
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