The secret to German and French productivity is that when they are at work, they work. They don't spend a lot of time in worthless meetings, surfing the web, or otherwise procrastinating.

Remember the movie "Office Space" when Peter Givens tells the two Bobs that in a week he'd do about 15 minutes of actual work?

If you know you only have to work for 35 hours, its a lot easier to work intensely. If you are expected to work 60 hour a week, you haver to pace yourself. It's just too easy to put things off until the weekend--when you'll have "fewer interruptions" (!)

and so they get less.