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Villepin camp divided as general strike { February 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=arqJJm_MftV8&refer=europehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=arqJJm_MftV8&refer=europe
France's Villepin Faces Strike Threat, Strained Ties (Update1)
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is facing the threat of a general strike over a botched plan to relax firing rules for young workers two days after nationwide protests drew as many as 1.5 million people.
De Villepin risks dividing his own camp as it unites the opposition, setting back his hopes of winning the presidency in 2007 as he rebuffs calls to cancel the law. The premier's approval rating plunged a record low, a survey yesterday showed.
Dissent in de Villepin's Union for a Popular Movement governing party is growing, giving ammunition to the Socialists and his chief UMP rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, say analysts such as Jean-Luc Parodi, research director at the National Foundation of Political Science.
De Villepin ``is less likely than before to be able to compete with Sarkozy,'' said Parodi. ``On one side he has lost the support of the left, which he had been indulging. And on the right, he has given the opposition an advantage.''
Two out of three French people are against the law, which allows companies to fire workers under 26 within the first two years of employment with little notice or severance, a survey of 857 people by polling company CSA showed last week. The law is part of de Villepin's attempt to curb unemployment, which is 9.6 percent nationwide and 22.2 percent among the young.
`Risky Choice'
De Villepin, 52, has said he won't repeal the law as opponents demand. ``We have to give the CPE a chance,'' he said in an interview with monthly student magazine Citato published today. ``My only preoccupation had been to go quickly because we have waited too long.''
Unions, protesting lack of consultation over the new law, are now spurning talks and letting student protests mount. Unions meet today to decide whether to call for a strike.
On his own side, de Villepin made ``a risky choice'' in introducing the CPE, said Patrick Devedjian, an adviser to Sarkozy. In an interview with the daily La Croix, Devedjian said supporters of Sarkozy, who hopes to run for president in 2007, ``are not philosophically favorable to the CPE in itself.''
Sarkozy, who is also president of the UMP party, has chosen to support de Villepin over the contract out of ``pragmatism,'' Devedjian said. They would have preferred simplifying France's labor laws, a position supported by France's biggest employers' federation, known as Medef.
``I don't understand why you haven't been more enthusiastic'' about the CPE, Finance Minister Thierry Breton told a Medef meeting March 15.
UMP Dissent
Some UMP lawmakers are openly dissenting. Former Foreign Minister Herve de Charette this month urged the prime minister ``not to gamble the presidential election'' on the CPE. Lawmaker Nicolas Dupont-Aignan asked de Villepin last week not to ``offer the youth to the Socialists.''
The premier's approval rating fell to its lowest since he became head of government last May, the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported yesterday. Its survey by Ifop showed 61 percent were dissatisfied with de Villepin. That compares with 54 percent last month.
Buoyed by the strength of protests, the opposition Socialists are gaining confidence and unity.
Party Leader Francois Hollande gave a joint press conference with lawmaker Henri Emmanuelli last week, paving over differences stemming from opposition last year by Emmanuelli and former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius to the European constitution. The party supported the treaty.
`Napoleonic Side'
De Villepin has refused to back down, and concessions he has offered such as better access to job training and jobless benefits have been dismissed by students and unions.
``We are in a situation where there is a blockage,'' said Parodi. ``Politics is about knowing how to manage blockages. The great generals are those who know how to retreat. We will see whether the prime minister has a Napoleonic side.''
In the weekend protests, students were joined by their parents, and in some cases their grandparents, marching against de Villepin and his new law. ``Comment perdre un election'' read banners, using the acronym CPE to mock de Villepin for his lesson in ``how to loose an election.''
`Social Crisis'
France is suffering ``a profound social crisis'' likely to deepen in coming weeks according to 71 percent of 1,055 people surveyed March 17 and 18 by LH2 for Liberation newspaper published today. The percentage is higher among young people, whom the CPE was designed to help
In Paris, the weekend demonstrations drew crowds numbering as many as 350,000 according to the organizers. Led by the CFDT, CGT and Force Ouvriere unions, the march from Denfert-Rochereau to the south of the city centre was mainly peaceful.
As night fell, protests turned violent with 18 demonstrators and 34 police injured in clashes mostly around Place de la Nation. Five cars were damaged or destroyed as well as 10 shops and other property.
Last week, in scenes reminiscent of protests in 1968, police evicted students occupying universities, including the Sorbonne in Paris's Latin Quarter. Sixty-four of the country's 84 universities were on strike, according to Unef, the country's largest student union. According, to the Ministry of Education, 61 universities were on strike.
Last Updated: March 20, 2006 03:09 EST
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