Hollande details responsibility pact to silence critics

After failing to realize his promises to quicken growth and bring down unemplyment rate, French President Francois Hollande decided to trim companies' families contribution by 2017 and offer more flexibility to companies to invest more and create more posts. "I proposed the pact of responsibility whose principle is simple: reduce business costs and in return allow more jobs creation and offer more social dialogue," said Hollande. "The time has come to resolve the main problem of France: its production. We need to produce more and better, so it is on offer that we must act," he told a large gathering of journalists. As he pledged to continue efforts to trim labor costs, Hollande announced the end of tax on employers that subsidize families by 2017 which will contribute to trim labor costs by 30 billion euros (41 billion U.S. dollars). In order to encourage firms to open their doors to people without work, the president proposed more simplified administrative procedures and to elimiate several taxes "to spur investment and employment." "This pact is a great social compromise. It's a chance and everyone must grasp... Everyone has to take his responsibility. There is no time to waste," Hollande stressed. Next Tuesday, the Socialist president will officially launch the pact during his New Year Greetings to the country's business leaders. Struggling to lower the unemployment rate by the end of 2013, Hollande reiterated his target to fight against joblessness currently at 10.9 percent. "The battle against the unemployment is not won but the first results are here," he told the gathering. (1 euro = 1.367 U.S. dollar)