Paris – Caving in after two months of protests by students and labor unions, the French government on Monday scuttled portions of a new labor law that had been intended to cut unemployment by making it easier to hire and fire young workers.
A weary Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who staked his political reputation on the law, announced the decision after a weekend of infighting and negotiation in his divided government.
“The conditions necessary for trust are not present either on the side of the young people nor on the side of businesses to permit the enactment of the contract,” de Villepin said in a televised statement. “I wanted to act quickly because the dramatic situation and despair of many young people required it. … Not everyone understood that, and I regret it.”
The government will try to end the crisis by eliminating the two central reforms in the proposal: a two-year probationary period for employees younger than 26 and the ability to fire the employees without justification during that period.
De Villepin had argued that making regulations more flexible would encourage employers to take a chance on new hires, especially in immigrant areas where unemployment reaches 50 percent. But critics accused him of wanting to dismantle hard-won job-security safeguards.
The announcement Monday made it clear that de Villepin and President Jacques Chirac, his mentor, failed to come up with a face-saving alternative during last weekend’s discussions in the ruling center-right coalition. The legislation seemed doomed since March 31, when Chirac said he would enact the law but also promised to modify its most disputed aspects.
“It’s time to bring down the curtain on this ridiculous farce,” said Jack Lang, a leader of the opposition Socialist Party. “This conflict revealed a profound regime crisis.”
Despite escalating and occasionally violent marches and strikes, de Villepin had insisted he would stand firm. But his popularity plummeted by half to a record-low 25 percent in polls. He lost the all-important support of Chirac, who appointed him a year ago in hopes of positioning de Villepin as a presidential candidate next year.
De Villepin, who has never run for office, tried to present himself as a courageous leader willing to confront entrenched left- wing forces to streamline a costly welfare state blamed for economic stagnation.
It was not the first time that the Chirac- de Villepin team gambled and lost. Last year, voters rejected a proposed constitution for the European Union, a resounding rebuke to a government that sees itself as a leader of European unity.
In 1997, Chirac called early elections – at de Villepin’s urging – to consolidate his legislative control and instead was forced to share power with a center-left government for five years.
