France CPE Riot Watch: French President Jacques Chirac Scraps First Job Contract (CPE) Youth Employment Law

French President Jacques Chirac (3rd L) attends a meeting with his cabinet including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (2nd R) on the controversial CPE youth jobs contract law at the Elysee Palace in Paris April 10, 2006. France will scrap the planned youth contract that has provoked mass protests and strikes, President Jacques Chirac’s office said on Monday.

Reuters: France scraps youth job law, bowing to mass unrest

French President Jacques Chirac on Monday scrapped a planned youth job law that provoked weeks of protests, in a climbdown opponents celebrated as an unqualified victory.

The move was a personal blow to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who had championed the First Job Contract (CPE) and seen his popularity slump with the mass opposition and unrest.

In a televised statement, Villepin said he regretted that weeks of strikes and protests showed the CPE could not be applied but gave no details about his own political future, on the line over his handling of the dispute.

France’s Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin gives a speech at his Hotel Matignon offices in Paris April 10, 2006 after a decision by French President Jacques Chirac to scrap planned youth job contract CPE that has provoked weeks of protests and a political crisis. Villepin, who has championed the job law, said in the televised statement he regretted that events had shown the contract could not be applied.

President Jacques Chirac bowing to youth and union pressure ends the controversial CPE and puts the final nail in the heart of his Prime Minister. Dominique de Villepin will resign and retire from public life after his standing in the polls for Chirac’s job has plummetted from around 49 per cent to 25 per cent.

A poll for Liberation newspaper showed Villepin’s popularity stood at 49 percent in the first week of January and had fallen to 25 percent this weekend. Negative opinion of Chirac rose from 56 percent to 64 percent over the same period.

The poll also showed 63 percent of voters said Socialist ideas on reform were no better than those of the right.

And the Socialists have not even named a candidate yet for this year’s elections.

So, what did Chirac actually do today. How do you repeal a duly enacted law in France?

Replace it.

“The president of the republic has decided to replace article 8 of the equal opportunities law with measures to help disadvantaged young people find work,” an earlier statement from the presidency said.

The new measures include increased financial incentives to employers to hire people under 26 who face the most difficulties in getting access to the labor market, Employment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper.

That would apply to approximately 159,000 young people currently hired under government-subsidized job contracts and the cost to the government would be around 150 million euros ($180 million) in the second half of 2006, Borloo said.

Those measures could be introduced in parliament as early this week, a senior UMP deputy said.

France’s youth unemployment stands at 22 percent and lack of jobs is the country’s number one political issue and a major reason for weeks of rioting in poor suburbs late last year.

Chirac and Villepin were careful in their statements to say that the CPE was being “replaced,” but others called it dead.

So, will the mass street protests and school/university blockades continue tomorrow?

Possible.

The Chirac government has replaced a legitimate attempt to solve the youth unemployment program (22 per cent youth unemployment and up to 50 per cent in immigrant communities) with more government spending (socialism). Will this reform work?

Probably NOT.

Stay tuned…..

Captain Ed:Â France Does What Comes Naturally

Chirac may salvage some political juice from this mess, but the center-right coalition has its days numbered. The people do not want market-based reforms, even in such a mild form as the CPE. The unions and the students in the street will not risk another attempt to hold them accountable for their job performance but instead will demand even greater job protections. That will benefit the Socialists in the next election, who will give the French what they demand, and that will only deliver even more economic misery. In the meantime, the French will keep insisting that the “Anglo-Saxon” model of market economics does not fit their lifestyles, allowing their historical mistrust of l’Angleterre to cloud their economic policies.