Translated material
Chirac was afraid of the street
The first hire contract will be replaced by youth welfare
Yesterday, the Prime Minister of France, 52-year-old Dominique de Villepin, addressed his compatriots live on television. He tried to maintain composure, but his sad eyes and sad voice betrayed bitterness and disappointment. The government project for the reform of labor legislation, which the head of the cabinet courageously defended in recent weeks, has been given a long life. And this project was buried by the man who actually seated de Villepin in the prime minister’s chair in May 2005 and who has invariably supported him since then. French President Jacques Chirac succumbed to pressure from street protests and insisted on the abolition of the first hire contract, a key government innovation. Instead, they promised to develop certain measures designed to help “young people in difficult situations.”As a result, Dominique de Villepin himself found himself in a difficult position. The idea of the law on equal chances belonged to him, concerned about the significant unemployment among young people. For French people aged 18 to 25, it is now 22%. This is the maximum figure for Western Europe. In the Parisian suburbs, the youth unemployment rate is approaching 50%, which does not fit into any European framework.
Having correctly identified one of the main ills of the French economy, M. de Villepin decided to abandon the socialist protection of workers and take the side of employers. The incentive to attract young people to work was to facilitate the procedure for their subsequent dismissal. Increasing staff turnover among young people was what the prime minister's proposal meant, formalized in the form of a provision on the first hire contract and included in the eighth article of the law on equal chances. The contract allowed the employer to enter into a contract with a Frenchman or Frenchwoman under the age of 26 for a period of two years. During this time, the contract could be terminated without explanation. If the young specialist passed the probationary period, the first hire contract turned into a standard employment contract.
At the beginning of March, the law on equal chances was approved by the French Parliament, on March 31 it was signed by President Chirac, and on April 2 it was published in the official gazette “Journal of Office” and formally came into force. However, in parallel with the passage of the law through all the necessary authorities in France, a wave of protests grew.
Students at the Sorbonne and other universities preferred rallies and demonstrations to classes and preparation for exams. They were supported by French trade unions, which organized several nationwide protests. And although not all transport workers, metallurgists and communications workers who stopped working clearly understood the essence of the conflict, and among the most violent participants in anti-government demonstrations were veterans of the destruction of public buildings and battles with the police last fall, President Chirac wavered. The first signs of this appeared on March 31 - when, although he signed the law, he called on the government to make changes to it as soon as possible. Then the talk was about reducing the probationary period for young people to one year and making the employer obligated to inform the young specialist of the reason for his early dismissal.
And yesterday morning the last nail was driven into the coffin for de Villepin's brainchild. The President decided not to finalize the provision on the first hire contract, but simply to cancel it. Dominique de Villepin said in a televised address to the nation that instead of the eighth article of the law on equal chances, the government and legislators will develop “other forms of support for young people.” At the same time, he complained that “not everyone understood” his desire to “act quickly, because the dramatic situation of the youth required it.”
As Vremya Novostei learned from French sources, the essence of the new proposal is as follows. The state can undertake the financing of new jobs for those youth who, due to an insufficient level of professional and educational training, would not be able to withstand the two-year probationary period. From now on, their employment will be ensured by government financial guarantees. In other words, the VN source noted, instead of introducing a first-hire contract, “the state will open social security for the poor and poorly educated labor force.”
As for de Villepin himself, the failure of the first hire contract could deal a fatal blow to his chances of winning the presidential elections scheduled for 2007. His popularity level has already dropped to a record low in the prime minister's biography of 25%.