EDITORS NOTE: This photo is part of the AFP photo project named "Presidentielle: qu'attendent les electeurs? / Voters' voices in France's key election." / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - RESTRICTED TO FRENCH ELECTIONS ILLUSTRATION PURPOSE
Jean-Paul Etchemendy, 49, high-end baker, employing 10 people and an apprentice, married with three children, living in Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry, poses with his voting card in his bakery in Osses on February 17, 2017. What should be the priorities of the next French president? "He has to lower employers' expenses! I feel smothered by the wage costs. I work 12 to 14 hours a day. If I could, I would hire more people, but financially it's not possible -- and that's without reckoning with the shortage of bakers and pastry chefs in the job market. I don't know if it's because we are located deep in the Basque region. Maybe on the Basque coast it is easier to find qualified personnel. In any case, here, when you find them, they increase their prices. Then, there is the option of hiring temporary or agency staff. But they are as expensive as short-term contracts because when they end there are so many bonuses you have to pay? and that brings you down." / AFP PHOTO / Iroz Gaizka / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - RESTRICTED TO FRENCH ELECTIONS ILLUSTRATION PURPOSE