Proposals by Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal fail to attack a near-record national debt and would leave in place laws that discourage hiring and investment in the euro area's second- largest economy, economists and business leaders say.

To heal the patient, the next president must cut labor costs, slash the national debt, streamline the tax and pension systems, reduce the expense of doing business, and make it easier for companies to hire and fire, said Stephane Deo, chief European economist at UBS AG in Zurich.

``You need wishful thinking to expect all this,'' Deo said.

Voters go to the polls in five weeks to begin the process of choosing a successor to President Jacques Chirac with the French share of European exports shrinking, innovation lagging behind its neighbors, and employment and economic growth around the lowest of the 13 nations that share the euro.

The economy last year trailed Germany's for the first time since 1994 and grew 0.6 of a percentage point less than the overall euro area, which expanded 2.6 percent, the fastest rate in six years. Of the 13 euro countries, only Greece and Spain have an unemployment rate higher than France's 8.5 percent.

Less Competitive

France is becoming less competitive just as the rise of China and India demands greater international efficiency. France's share of European exports has fallen 18 percent since 1999 and its current-account deficit is the biggest in a quarter century. Within the euro region, only Slovenian companies dedicate fewer resources to developing new or improved products, a Eurostat survey found last month.

``If his or her economic adviser dares telling the truth, the first words the next president hears should be: `We have a problem,''' said Chaney, a former forecaster at the French Ministry of Finance who now is based in London.

Sarkozy, 52, who heads the governing Union for a Popular Movement, pledges to deregulate the labor market. He would let companies fire employees more easily and would scrap taxes on all the hours people work beyond 35 a week. He also wants to cut inheritance taxes and cap individuals' taxes at 50 percent.

Raising Wages

Socialist Royal, meanwhile, promises to raise the minimum wage 20 percent by 2012 and give job seekers more benefits if they speed up their search for employment.

Royal, 53, also would reinforce job protection by scrapping a contract introduced in 2005 that allows small companies to fire new hires without cause during their first two years of work.

Both Sarkozy and Royal back protectionism and support government bailouts. ``Neither is very keen on letting the market decide everything, and each believes the state often needs to intervene,'' said Laurence Boone, chief French economist at Barclays Capital in Paris.

Francois Bayrou, 55, is rising in the polls with a program that seeks to split the difference between his opponents. He emphasizes reduction in the debt, which reached a record 66.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2005, up from 55 percent when Chirac took office. He also would provide more support for small companies by reserving a share of government business for them, and would allow them to hire two people on permanent contracts without payroll charges.

More 'Ambitious'

Sarkozy's proposals are more ``ambitious'' than Royal's and may run into a wall, as have other attempted reforms, said Gilles Moec, an economist at Bank of America Corp. in London.

Chirac's proposed overhaul of pension and health-care systems in 1995 triggered strikes that brought the country to a near-standstill and discouraged attempts at deeper changes. The government last year scrapped a law that made it easier to fire young workers.

``A risk would be that his willingness to reform rapidly proves hard to digest for a country which has proved quite allergic to drastic changes,'' Moec said. ``It is likely he'd have to retreat on at least some of his current propositions.''

Royal's program may give consumption a short-term boost, said Dominique Barbet, senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in Paris. Still, it would do little to remedy underlying weaknesses: too much red tape and too big a government.

Public Spending

A quarter of the workforce is on the government's payroll, and public spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, at 53.8 percent last year, is the second-highest in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The manifestos of both Royal and Sarkozy increase outlays. Barbet calculates each program would cost an additional 40 billion euros during the next five-year term.

As a result, any effort to reduce the public debt or to keep the budget deficit beneath the European Union's ceiling may flounder, said Morgan Stanley's Chaney.

Royal may have to choose between a higher deficit or a tax increase to fund more spending on housing, education and health care. Sarkozy may be unable to pare debt and also enact his planned tax cuts.

``The candidates all lack a coherent economic plan,'' Laurence Parisot, president of France's largest employers group, told reporters March 13. ``We're being offered policies which have led to today's failure.''