French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has announced a government decree banning executive bonuses and stock options at all firms receiving bailout money.  The measure is criticized on the left as a superficial gesture.  Public unrest is growing in France as its economic crisis grows, and such "gestures" may be aimed more at crowd control than at actual justice. 

Expatica: "As the economic crisis bites, sending French jobless soaring to nearly 2.4 million, the government fears that anger in the workforce could spill over into social unrest.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government has sought to channel resentment by talking tough on executive pay after more than a million workers took to the streets for the second time this year to contest his policies.

Investment bank Natixis, which received EUR 2 billion in government funds, is in the eye of the storm after admitting to paying EUR 70 million in bonuses to some 3,000 employees.

Natixis, a subsidiary of Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire, currently being merged, reported a net loss of EUR 2.8 billion for 2008 and is laying off 1,250 workers in France and abroad."