Posted on 04/05/2006 7:34:57 AM PDT by MadIvan
The continuing unrest in France over the controversial youth jobs law has prompted an intense bout of soul searching in the French press.
A sense of desperation pervades some newspapers, with commentators expressing serious concern over the opportunities available to French youth and the state of the nation.
There is a widespread belief that the government is on the back foot and will be forced to revise its plans.
La Charente Libre
"Even if they go back to classes, through their rejection of the CPE, young people have expressed a profound anxiety about their future. We must respond to this anxiety - which is not simply the expression of a conservative fear, as some would have us believe. And the responsibility for this lies with everyone, not just with those in government. "
La Presse de la Manche
"Of all the countries in Europe, France is the most fearful, the most apprehensive, the one that is scared of tomorrow. The most important thing is to envisage a way of opening up jobs to the young that can bring them a future and social advancement. Whether it be the CPE or something else, it doesn't matter! The most important thing is to find a common solution. Giving hope to young people is now an urgent matter. "
Le Figaro
"The reforms that need to be carried out are immense. If there is one lesson to be learnt from this CPE crisis, it is that these reforms will remain deadlocked, and the country with them, if everyone continues to act 'against' certain people or 'without' others. "
La Croix
"It is a particularly French characteristic, that the world does not envy us, that we are able to tear ourselves apart ruthlessly, to confront each other harshly. "
Les Echos
"Four days after Jacques Chirac's televised address, it is still difficult to tell which path will lead us out of the crisis. Even if the atmosphere has relaxed somewhat, we still don't know where the negotiations will take us: will it be a pure and simple suspension of the First Job Contract, as the unions are demanding, or the birth of a 'diet-version' CPE? "
La Republique du Centre
"Yesterday's day of protest - as strong, if not more so, as that of a week ago - has confirmed definitively the solidarity of the anti-CPE movement. The televised speech by Jacques Chirac has in no way defused the revolt - on the contrary. "
Liberation
"Chirac hoped he would extinguish the fire, but he has revived it. After another day of demonstrations which mustered two million people, the unions are in a position of strength to demand the withdrawal of the CPE."
France Soir
"What a slap in the face! Far from having calmed the situation, the televised intervention by the president has reinforced the protest movement against the CPE. After yesterday's demo, the government has no choice but to withdraw the CPE. To procrastinate any longer could only make the situation worse, because it will soon be their heads that the demonstrators are calling for. "
L'Humanite headline
"The CPE: Out for the count but still standing. "
L'Humanite
"The strength of yesterday's day of protest has told the Right above all that the workers and young people - so close to their goal - are not inclined to drop their guard but will continue to press for the CPE to be repealed. "
Aujourd'hui en France
"What is the point of [de Dominique] Villepin? This new show of strength by the unions weakens the prime minister even more - not only is de Villepin not leading the negotiations, which [Interior Minister] Nicolas Sarkozy and the UMP deputies are undertaking as of this morning, but the 'repeal' of the First Job Contract is now being talked about by ruling party MPs."
Ping!
Shadenfreud alert!
Yes, I should have said, "Schadenfreude, anyone?" :)
Regards, Ivan
Who is Schadenfreud? Is he related to Freud?
Schadenfreude - the enjoyment taken out of watching the misery of others.
Regards, Ivan
I'm surprised France has gone this long without raising the white flag.
I doubt even they can surrender to themselves.
Regards, Ivan
"There is a widespread belief that the government is on the back foot and will be forced to revise its plans" . . .
That about sums up the reporting in France. Nobody is reporting about root causes of labor unrest. Among the chief causes are crazy French immigration policies that allow illegal aliens to work at much lower wages "off the books" for cash. Also, employers do not have to pay for health insurance or social benefits for illegal workers.
Wait just a minute: That sounds just like what is going on in America! Globalization strikes again. Horrors!
I read a few, and then reflexively asked out loud, "Who cares?" These are they navel gazing questions an aging socialist country always asks....."Now what ______ do we give to the collective." Individual Freedom and Responsibility/Initiative not even a concern.
Strategery + Schardenfreud
A nation of socialists cannot understand why socialism doesn't work. Good riddance to bad garbage.
La France est dans la toilette
Not just sad, but a bit apprehensive. I believe France is ripe for a Socialist Dictator..
You are doomed France. The most important thing is to find the right solution, not a common solution.
Ha!
You know what to do, Gramps. ;o)
"I like to joke about the French as much as anyone does, but to see this once great Western nation reduced to a sniveling mass of fearful sheep makes me sad."
I agree.
The French contributions to the western culture we rightly revere are significant. Their demise, while satisfying on one level, is overall not a good thing for us and civilisation as a whole.
The solutions are simple and obvious, but there is a real Catch 22 as to whether a society reaping the TEMPORARY fruits of the socialistic welfare state can bring itself to end them before it is too late.
A French guy told me theres no problem, they just have to clamp down on Crime.... ..So.. How long is an ostrich's neck?
Once again, we watch European mismanagement bring certain war to the European continent. Same thing as WWI and WWII, just different players/situations. What France needs is a Ronald reagan, but they would never be able to deal with the short-term pain that reorganization would cause. I am afraid they are lost, and the worst part about it is that their large Muslim population is a country with the Atomic bomb.
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