FRANCE: France appeared headed for further social unrest after the Constitutional Council last night validated without reservation a new law which will allow employers to fire youths under age 26 without justification during a two-year trial period.
President Jacques Chirac is expected to promulgate the law in a "solemn declaration" on French television at 8pm this evening, dashing widespread hopes that he would delay the decision for nine days, as allowed by law, or send the legislation back to the national assembly for further deliberation.
Chirac may attempt to soften the government's image of intransigence by proposing wide-ranging negotiations similar to the "Grenelle talks" that ended the May 1968 revolution and resulted in significant salary rises for workers.
Bernard Thibault, the head of the Communist trade union CGT which has been a leading participant in four general strikes against the youth labour law, said "the promulgation of the law by Jacques Chirac will envenom the crisis and hamper any possibility of discussion." Bruno Julliard, the leader of the student union UNEF, said: "With every meeting and demonstration we grow stronger. We will continue this mobilisation until the law is rescinded." A grouping of 12 trade unions and student organisations has announced a fifth general strike for next Tuesday, April 4th.
In a serious escalation of their opposition to the First Job Contract or CPE, students yesterday took their battle to train stations, highways and public buildings. 1,500 demonstrators occupied the Gare St Lazare in Paris for much of the afternoon, placing wooden beams and other debris on railway tracks. Similar raids were staged in train stations in Marseille, Lyon, Lorient, Metz and St Étienne.
Students created huge traffic jams by blocking vehicles on the ring road and bridges leading into Nantes. The principal of the lycée Jules Verne in Nantes called in the police to separate striking students and supportive parents, who fought physically with teenagers and parents who tried to reopen the lycée.
On Wednesday, education minister Gilles de Robien ordered principals to reopen lycées, with the help of security forces if necessary. His decision prompted an outcry from teachers' unions, who feared violence and casualties. Mr Robien is a close ally of Mr Chirac and prime minister Dominique de Villepin.
Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who believes the CPE is a mistake, let it be known that he was against using police to reopen lycées, and Mr Robien's order was little followed yesterday. Some 69 per cent of French universities and 11 per cent of lycées are either shut or disrupted by striking students.
The Socialist Party had filed a complaint with the Constitutional Council in the hope that its 10 "wise men" would find the CPE unconstitutional.
The showdown over the CPE has plunged France into an atmosphere of crisis comparable to last November, when youths in the immigrant suburbs revolted after the accidental death by electrocution of two teenagers in an electricity sub-station.
Equally worrying for Messrs Chirac and de Villepin, it has divided the French right, with a majority of UMP deputies following Mr Sarkozy in his calls for dialogue and a suspension of the law.
Mr de Villepin was appointed by Chirac 10 months ago, when the previous government resigned in the wake of France's No vote on the European constitutional treaty. Mr de Villepin supported Mr Chirac through two difficult presidential campaigns in 1995 and 2002, and the two are said to have a close relationship.
Mr Chirac reportedly feared that Mr de Villepin would resign if he did not fully support him. Le Monde described the prime minister's attitude as "le CPE ou moi". In a much-publicised Freudian slip in the National Assembly this week, Mr de Villepin said he was awaiting the Constitutional Council's "resignation" (démission) when he meant to say "decision".
The immediate enactment of the law tonight would leave the president and prime minister isolated, without the support of their party, which is presided over by Mr Sarkozy, and with limited public support.
An opinion poll conducted by IPSOS for LCI television station yesterday showed that 62 per cent of French people support the protest movement. Some 45 per cent want the CPE to be maintained, but with significant changes - which are now unlikely. Some 47 per cent want it to be rescinded. Some 67 per cent said the government, not the unions, should back down, and that the CPE should be suspended during negotiations.