Posted on 03/19/2006 7:03:32 PM PST by blam
Chirac may back down over job law backlash
By Colin Randall, in Paris
(Filed: 20/03/2006)
President Jacques Chirac was under pressure from the threat of a general strike over France's new employment law.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets
The unrest could force his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to perform a humiliating climb-down.
Mr de Villepin has tried to ride out the storm whipped up by the legislation and ignore the huge demonstrations and fierce rioting it has provoked.
But speculation was growing last night that the president was pushing him towards major concessions to end the student-led revolt.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters, from school pupils to pensioners, took to the streets on Saturday for marches that ended in clashes with police in Paris, Marseilles, Rennes and Lille.
Figures for those taking part in the demonstrations varied from the 1.5 million claimed by the protest leaders to the half a million counted by the interior ministry.
For the second time in three days police fired teargas at missile-throwing mobs in the capital. Trouble began at the end of a peaceful march across the city and later flared at the Sorbonne, where rioters tried to storm the university, closed by the authorities after earlier unrest.
Water cannon were turned on to disperse troublemakers and youths set fire to cars and smashed shop windows in violence that raged into the early hours.
More than 160 people were arrested during the Paris disturbances and 34 police officers and 18 protesters were hurt.
Unions have told Mr de Villepin to withdraw the law or face national disruption, starting with a day of strikes paralysing transport and other public services.
Mr Chirac, nervous of mass protests after years of political survival, has ordered him to start talks as soon as possible with student and union leaders opposed to the contrat première embauche, or first job contract.
After initially supporting Mr de Villepin, the president is now anxious for a way out.
"Reform in France has two enemies, the Elysée and the street, and the first is afraid of the second," said Claude Imbert, founder and columnist of the weekly political magazine, Le Point.
The contract, which is designed to bring down youth unemployment, lets employers hire staff aged under 26 for up to two years during which they can be fired without reason.
While Mr de Villepin insists he is committed to the measure and will not scrap it, colleagues suggest that there is scope for negotiations.
"It is possible to work on certain improvements, certain formulae to reinforce guarantees for the young," one key minister, the government spokesman Jean-François Copé, said after the protests on Saturday.
The search for a compromise could lead to an offer to reduce to one year the period during which recruits have no protection from summary dismissal.
In a sign that the government is divided, Mr de Villepin's number two, Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister, has avoided pledging his own support for the law.
Some allies of Sarkozy have undermined Mr de Villepin's authority by raising doubts about the policy. Patrick Devedjian, a former minister, described the contract as "a little over-adventurous".
Mr Sarkozy's distanced approach is all the more striking given his belief that the labour market must be more flexible.
But his relations with the prime minister are at best prickly and both men see themselves as successors to Mr Chirac next year.
Wow, the French even surrender to themselves!
who cares what happens to them
Chirac is like 115 years old -- what does he have to lose? He should show some spine for once in his life and at least be remembered as the first leader to advance a serious economic reform.
Everything is "free" in Europe, there are no consequences for anything. Loot, smash, burn, the government will cave.
How can they claim to be "civilized" when there is chaos everywhere?
"Chirac May Back Down Over Job Law Backlash"
Of course he will. Under French law you have to give rioters whatever they ask for.
It is very *much* in our interest to see United Europe in the form of the European Union implode, especially since France and Germany dominate it.
The economic collapse of France will trigger the collapse of the EU, and then we can deal with our friends in Europe while cutting the French out of any deals entirely, something we can't do with the EU as it is.
So, any wagers one when the "Sixth Republic" will be formed? This year or next?
This same coalition of losers drove DeGaulle out of office, and he had more spine than his protege Chirac. These morons want to keep in place a system that has resulted in nearly 25 percent unemployment among the young. They deserve to live in a malfunctioning economy.
This is a good lesson why socialism doesn't work. The political system is a very awkward place to make these decisions.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets
What I see in that photo is nothing but a bunch of spoiled KIDS yelling, etc.!
The headline should have read: Hundreds of thousands of small spoiled kids took to the streets!!!
How long before the country officially changes it's name to "Frankistan?"
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Chirac is spineless even for a Frenchman. He capitulated in November to the Arab street gangs and now to the lazy student rable. France's economy is doomed unless some one injects some free market ideas. My bet is Interior Minister Sarkozy will be the next President. He at least doesn't immediately wave a white flag like Chirac.
it's not everyday you see a country swirl down a toilet in real time ... socialism sure is fun!
If the Prez of France doesn't have enough support to get past this he might resign. It's a thankless job anyway.
Really? It would not bother me in the least, unless of the U.S. is going to be gullible & naive enough to go and give them massive aid & hundreds of billions of dollars to bail France & the EU out AGAIN!!! We already rebuilt Western Europe twice. This time they're on their own!
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