President Jacques Chirac caved in yesterday to France’s biggest street protests for decades and scrapped the controversial new youth employment law, handing a victory to the unions and a blow to his Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin.
Chirac was desperate for a way out of France’s two-month political crisis which has seen millions march, sixth-formers and students blockade schools and universities, and protesters occupy the Sorbonne for the first time since 1968.
But the president’s protege, De Villepin, was left badly weakened by the climbdown, which adds his name to the long list of prime ministers on the right who have had to renounce reforms in the face of pressure from the streets.
In a sombre televised address to the nation on Monday, De Villepin chose his words carefully. He said Chirac had accepted his advice that the law should be ”replaced” by measures specifically to help young, unqualified people from disadvantaged areas to find work.
He said he was convinced the only way of addressing unemployment was a ”better balance between flexibility for employers and more security for workers”. He regretted the fact that his ”strong” solution ”was not understood by everyone”.
He was preparing to appear again later to explain the replacement measures that would include financial incentives for employers who hire young people with the most difficulty finding work.
De Villepin, a self-published poet and Chirac’s favoured successor for the presidency, has experienced one of the sharpest-ever falls in a prime minister’s approval rating — down from 49% to 25% since the start of this year.
He later told France’s main news bulletin that he had been through ”an ordeal, a very difficult time” adding ”the first lesson of a crisis is to change yourself”.
Asked whether he would run for president next year he replied: ”I have always said that I have no presidential ambitions.”
De Villepin had spent weeks staunchly defending his ”first employment contract” which, he said, would curb France’s crippling youth unemployment — among the worst in western Europe, at 23% of people under 25 and rising to 50% in the poor suburbs. The contrat première embauche (CPE), which he forced through parliament without a debate, would have allowed employers to sack new workers under 26 within a two-year trial period.
The ”easy-hire, easy fire” plan was designed to spur employers to take on young people, safe in the knowledge that they would not be bound by France’s rigid employment laws. Protesters said the law would rob young people of any security. Chirac ordered slight changes 10 days ago, but unions gave the government until next week to scrap the law completely or face more strikes and disruption.
Trade unions declared victory, saying De Villepin’s law was ”dead and buried”. But the biggest students’ union called for protests to continue until the new measures were clarified and voted on by Parliament. Students will stage demonstrations across France on Tuesday.
There was no sign of an end of the bitter feud between De Villepin and the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy — potential rivals for the presidency in next year’s elections – which has formed a backdrop to the crisis. Sarkozy oversaw negotiations between the ruling UMP party and unions last week. But De Villepin’s allies were determined he should not present himself in the media as the nation’s ”saviour”.
Late last week, Sarkozy was twice forced to postpone an interview on the crisis after complaints from the De Villepin camp. Meanwhile, demonstrators complained France was being ”held to ransom” by two feuding rivals who had paralysed the government. In a weekend survey by the newspaper Le Parisien, 53% said they thought the turmoil had strengthened Sarkozy and 86% thought it had weakened De Villepin.
Economists said that any plans for economic reform in France would be on hold until after next year’s presidential elections. Sarkozy’s spokesperson said he would call his party together in mid-May to discuss reform and modernising France.
A poll for Libération newspaper found that 45% believed the difficulty in pushing through changes was due to a general mood among French people against such reform, rather than policies of the left or the right. – Guardian Unlimited Â