Gulf Times Newspaper

27.03.2006

France’s Sarkozy signals differences over jobs law

Published: Thursday, 23 March, 2006, 12:43 PM Doha Time

PARIS: France’s powerful interior minister distanced himself from Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin over a job law yesterday but ruled out quitting, in a clear sign of a deep split within the ruling right.
In an interview, Nicolas Sarkozy called for a six-month trial period for the CPE (First Job Contract), which has sparked street protests and a national strike threat and highlighted the presidential rivalries of Sarkozy and Villepin.
Commentators suggest Sarkozy might leave the government in an effort to prevent his chances in 2007 presidential elections being damaged in the fallout from the CPE row.
“I am showing solidarity while being different,” Sarkozy told the Paris Match weekly in an interview released ahead of publication today.
“I have no intention of displaying that difference more when things are not going well, rather than when things are going well,” he said, adding he would not resign over the issue. “One does not leave a government for opportunist reasons.”
The CPE, which allows employers to fire people under 26 without giving a reason during a two-year trial period, is one of the biggest crises in Villepin’s 10-month administration. The prime minister’s popularity ratings have slumped in past weeks.
Villepin, who rammed the measure through parliament, says the CPE will help cut youth unemployment of around 23%.
Opponents say the contract will create a generation of throwaway young workers with no job security and trade unions have called for a national strike next Tuesday.
Students in the western university town of Poitiers briefly blocked roads yesterday. More protests are planned for today, after up to 1.5mn people across France marched against the CPE at the weekend.
“We will not give up,” vowed student leader Jules Aime in Poitiers.
Villepin has said he is ready to discuss key concerns of unions but refused to consider withdrawing the CPE.
Meeting his critics head on, the prime minister told UMP lawmakers on Tuesday that his law already gave France’s “social partners” – shorthand for unions and employers – complete freedom to reduce the contested trial period.
One union leader said on Tuesday the mooted changes went in the right direction but still did not go far enough.
Sarkozy, who has been unusually discreet over the CPE so far, called for more dialogue over the contract.
“The wise thing would be for everyone to enter a six-month experimentation (period),” he said. “If the CPE creates jobs, why doubt it, why refuse it? Let’s experiment! Let’s evaluate sincerely with trade unions and student groups.”
Sarkozy is doubly exposed to the political downside of the crisis because as interior minister he has to police the mass protests that have sometimes degenerated into violence.
He met Sud-PTT union officials on Tuesday after one of their members sank into a coma after being hurt in violence that erupted after Saturday’s Paris demonstration. Public prosecutors said there was no evidence police were to blame.
“Sarkozy ready to drop Villepin” exclaimed the front page headline of Le Parisien, which said Sarkozy could speak out this weekend if Villepin did not move on the jobs contract.
“We cannot remain in the current situation, with everyone standing their ground – the street with its ultimatums and a prime minister who does not want to budge,” said Sarkozy ally and UMP deputy Yves Jego.
“Everyone has to take a step towards the other,” he told BFMTV late on Tuesday.
Street protests can make or break governments in France. Protests undermined conservatives in 1995 who lost snap polls two years later. A student’s death in 1986 protests forced the then conservative government to scrap a major education reform. –

Reuters
Gulf Times Newspaper, 2006