Word: villepin
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...rare that any politician actually wants to see their landmark pieces of legislation overturned by courts, but that is the unique, unenviable position French prime minister Dominique de Villepin now finds himself in. Pressure on de Villepin to ditch a controversial labor law grew dramatically Tuesday, when nation-wide protests produced an unexpectedly high turnout of nearly three million demonstrators. In Paris alone, more than a million transport workers, civil servants, and an array of public sector employees heeded union calls to stay away from work and join demonstrating high school and college students...
...ironically, the outcome in this high-drama showdown - and perhaps the survival of the de Villepin government - will be decided neither in the streets, nor in the corridors of power. Instead, the disputed law's fate will soon be determined when an independent commission issues its ruling on whether the law is even constitutional. The 12 justices on France's Constitutional Council are set to deliver their judgment late this week on the legality of de Villepin's controversial law-which seeks to reduce chronic youth unemployment levels of over 20% by allowing businesses to fire workers aged...
...always seems inevitable. Whether the First Employment Contract (cpe), the measure intended to encourage job creation by allowing employers to more easily dismiss the young staffers they take on, is good or bad is beside the point. It took an unusual degree of blindness for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to think that the French, who said non to the European constitution, would approve of this "reform." After all, it has revealed to young people the extent to which they have been victims of their elders, who have hoarded generous social benefits for the last 20 years. Financing those benefits...
...Initially, de Villepin stood firm, vowing earlier this week not to "revoke", "suspend" or "water-down" the measure, nor "capitulate before the logic of ultimatums." But with polls showing nearly 70% of voters opposing the law, and his own approval ratings nearing 30%, de Villepin is now voicing a willingness to negotiate with unions. The reversal seeks to defuse a crisis threatening not only de Villepin's government, but his 2007 presidential ambitions as well. Indeed, his new willingness to negotiate came just hours after Interior Minister and fellow presidential aspirant Nicolas Sarkozy moved to carefully distance himself from...
...Sarkozy's stance on the labor law was immediately plucked up by Socialist leader and possible presidential candidate Fran?ois Hollande, who mocked de Villepin in parliament, saying, "There's doubt on this within your own government--it's sitting right next to you!" Sarkozy's new position on the strike, Reyni? notes, could hurt Villepin's leadership credentials, give new life to the lefist opposition and ultimately hurt Sarkozy's presidential ambitions as well. "The problem is, that's exactly what traditional conservative votes don't want any more," Reyni? says of Sarkozy's comments on the labor dispute. "They...