Israelis get conscription for their eighteenth birthday; but France’s president Sarkozy today decided to give a free annual subscription to a newspaper all new 18-year-olds’ choosing, as Guardian.co.uk reports. It’s part of a €600 million plan designed to save the country’s ailing newspaper business, which is crippled by poor retail and distribution channels, declining readership and an ability to reform for the digital age, partly thanks to strong employee protections.

Sarkozy is “instructing (newspapers) to improve the content of their articles, bring in younger readers and transform business models in exchange for emergency aid worth €600 million over the next three years,” Guardian.co.uk said.

Issuing free subs may add several hundred thousand to the registered circulations publishers can show advertising, but this more like a sticking plaster than a permanent fix. Sure, FT.com itself is giving away site subs to university students through Facebook - but that’s a business strategy. Sarkozy said “The habit of reading a daily paper takes root at a very young age.” But it’s a habit many young folk have already fallen out of.

Other measures, however - tax breaks for investors in online journalism, and the state will double advertising in print and online papers (unlike UK governments, which are looking at pulling their mandatory newspaper ads away). His sweeping media reforms since Sarkozy came to power include removing ads from public service TV and placing a levy on ISPs to made up the shortfall.