PARIS (Reuters):

Without deep reform France will be unable to boost growth and fund its social security safety net, President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday when he unveiled measures to trim French bureaucracy.

Sarkozy told senior ministers and officials the almost 100 measures would cut the number of civil servants but those who remained would have better pay, conditions and career prospects.

France spends €1,000 billion ($1,500 billion) a year on its public administration, Sarkozy said. That would fall to €850 billion if France spent the same share of national wealth on running itself as Germany, its main trading partner.