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  • ...and the French continue to be French...

    At this rate, most of Europe becomes part of the 3rd world in our lifetime.


    PARIS — President Jacques Chirac on Monday threw out part of a youth labor law that triggered massive protests and strikes, bowing to intense pressure from students and unions and dealing a blow to his loyal premier in a bid to end the crisis.

    While some unions celebrated what they called "a great victory," students who had planned more demonstrations appeared more cautious, saying their movement would continue for now.

    Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who devised the law, had faced down protesters for weeks, insisting that its most divisive provision — a so-called "first job contract" — was necessary to reduce high unemployment rates among French youths by making it easier for companies to hire and fire young workers.

    But acting on advice from Villepin, his longtime protege, Chirac "decided to replace" the provision with one aimed at "youths in difficulty," the president's office said.

    Top lawmakers from Chirac's ruling conservative party presented a new plan to parliament Monday. The proposal emerged after talks the legislators held last week with unions and student groups to find ways of ending the crisis.

    A somber Villepin, in a television appearance, explained his original legislation was designed to curb "despair of many youths" and strike a "better balance... between more flexibility for the employer and more security for workers."

    "This was not understood by everyone, I'm sorry to say," Villepin said.

    The crisis has discredited Chirac and devastated Villepin and his presidential ambitions — and thrown into question the government's ability to push through painful reforms to help France compete in the global economy. The new measures increase the government's role in the workplace instead of decreasing them, as Villepin had sought.

    Students and other opponents had feared the previous measure would erode coveted job security — and some unions trumpeted the retreat by Chirac and his prime minister.

    The labor law "is dead and buried," said Jean-Claude Mailly of the Workers Force union. "The goal has been achieved."

    Alain Olive, secretary-general of the UNSA union, said, "After more than two weeks of intense mobilization, the 12 syndicated groups of workers, university and high school students have won a great victory."

    However, the leader of France's biggest student union, UNEF, adopted more of a wait-and-see attitude — saying the group would watch to ensure that parliament would scrap the contract.

    "We want to see how we can take advantage of this power struggle that is now in our favor to garner new victories," Bruno Julliard told AP Television News.

    The new, four-point plan sent to parliament would bolster existing job contracts, rather than enact new ones. The government would offer more state support for companies that bring on young workers.

    Other provisions would increase internships in areas where jobs are relatively plentiful — such as in restaurants, hotels and nursing — or guide jobseekers in their careers.

    The "first job contract" would have allowed employers to fire workers aged under 26 at any time during a two-year trial period without giving a reason.

    Chirac enacted the law earlier this month, but immediately suspended it to give ruling conservative lawmakers a chance to meet with unions and look for a way out of the turmoil.

    Villepin drew up the labor legislation as part of his response to last fall's wave of rioting in France's impoverished suburbs, where many immigrants and their French-born children live. The unemployment rate for youths under 26 is a staggering 22 percent nationwide, but soars to nearly 50 percent in some of those troubled areas.

    The plan sparked weeks of protests and strikes that shut down dozens of universities, prompted clashes between youths and police, and tangled road, train and air travel.

    At least five demonstrations since early March drew more than 100,000 people, culminating in two that each brought at least 1 million to the streets across France in the past two weeks. Many ended in violence as youths threw stones, bottles and other projectiles at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas and swinging batons.

    Unions had been threatening more demonstrations and walkouts just hours before the announcement from Chirac — and some students appeared unwilling to abandon their protest right away.

    "We must go forward carefully," said Lise Prunier, an 18-year-old biology student at the University of Paris-Jussieu. "For the moment, our movement will continue."

    Villepin, widely seen as a potential candidate for next year's presidential elections, has suffered heavy blows to his popularity over the crisis.

    A new poll showed that 85 percent of French people think the crisis has also weakened the 73-year-old Chirac, who has ruled France for 11 years. The poll was conducted by the CSA polling agency last week among 1,005 respondents and gave no margin of error.
    sigpicUSS North Dakota

  • #2
    All I want to know is, when everything starts to fall apart over there, and they start climbing over each other for resources and land, are we the ones who will have to liberate them again? :(
    No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
    I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
    even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
    He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Confed999
      All I want to know is, when everything starts to fall apart over there, and they start climbing over each other for resources and land, are we the ones who will have to liberate them again? :(
      Liberate Europe? In WW2 you liberate some countries u didn't liberate the whole continent......................................... ..................................
      Since i am in this forum i panic, it seems Europe is collapsing, I M AFRAID!!!
      Yesterday i went to the shopping mall, i bought 50kilos of rice, just in case,

      Comment


      • #4
        Hmm lets see, we liberated Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and occupied most of Germany....seems like Europe to me......when I say we I mean the allies.
        Facts to a liberal is like Kryptonite to Superman.

        -- Larry Elder

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Ellopian
          Liberate Europe? In WW2 you liberate some countries u didn't liberate the whole continent
          Nope, not the whole continet, especially since only 1/2 was liberated. The other 1/2 was left in a totalitarian police state. But every country that was liberated, and even every one that was enslaved, had Americans fighting in it. Didn't you know that?
          Originally posted by Ellopian
          Since i am in this forum i panic, it seems Europe is collapsing, I M AFRAID!!!
          You should be, history doesn't bode well for countries in Europe when economic problems begin to take root...
          No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
          I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
          even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
          He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

          Comment


          • #6
            what does a sh!t law like this...

            The "first job contract" would have allowed employers to fire workers aged under 26 at any time during a two-year trial period without giving a reason.
            have to do with WW2. The french deserve praise for acting out against the tyrnany of fat cats and thier parlimentarian puppets.

            What sort of bullsh!t law is that?!

            Comment


            • #7
              For once I agree with Plat. The anti hire-n-fire demostrations and protests are part of democratic process and the govt had to listen to the voice of the people. A secure work environment, is what they are fighting for - what is so wrong about that?
              In contrast the Brits have passed a new legislation that if a British national looses his/her job due to his work getting out sourced, then the foreign firm getting the out-sourced contract will have to compensate him/her. This is BS. We are in a global economical village - either they accept it or lump it.

              Cheers!...on the rocks!!

              Comment


              • #8
                Because it is sooooo difficult to FIRE a worker, french companies avoid hiring at all costs. This has the effect of driving unemployment UP (opposite of intended effect). Because french workers have little fear of termination, they have less incentive to be productive, driving produtivity down and incentivizing companies (& investors) to an evern greater extent to go offshore with the jobs, again, driving unemployment up and decreasing french companies competitiveness in the global economy.

                Econ 101
                sigpicUSS North Dakota

                Comment


                • #9
                  John has a long moustache! ;)

                  Wounds my heart with monotonous langour! ;)



                  "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                  I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                  HAKUNA MATATA

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by 2DREZQ
                    Because french workers have little fear of termination, they have less incentive to be productive Econ 101
                    that's what i call rubbish theory...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by platinum786
                      what does a sh!t law like this...



                      have to do with WW2. The french deserve praise for acting out against the tyrnany of fat cats and thier parlimentarian puppets.

                      What sort of bullsh!t law is that?!
                      It's called the root of a successful business and industrial climate.

                      -dale

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by dalem
                        It's called the root of a successful business and industrial climate.

                        -dale
                        Beeing fired with no reason "is the root of a successful business and industrial climate"??? I mean ok, if you're the boos its the root of YOUR sucessful business and YOUR industrial climate...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Ellopian
                          Beeing fired with no reason "is the root of a successful business and industrial climate"??? I mean ok, if you're the boos its the root of YOUR sucessful business and YOUR industrial climate...
                          You don't get fired for no reason.
                          "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Looks like two of the top four non-success stories in the EU for employment are Greece and France. The average unemployment rate in the EU is nearly twice that of the US.

                            http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/pls/p...2006-EN-BP.PDF

                            Euro-zone1 seasonally-adjusted unemployment2 stood at 8.3% in January 2006, the same as in December 2005.

                            It was 8.8% in January 2005. The EU254 unemployment rate was 8.5% in January 2006, unchanged compared to December 20053. It was 8.9% in January 2005.

                            In January 2006, the lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.3%), Denmark (4.4% in December), the Netherlands (4.6%), the United Kingdom (5.0% in November) and Austria (5.2%). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (17.2%), Slovakia (15.8%), Greece (10.1% in the third quarter 2005), France (9.2%) and Germany5 (9.1%).

                            These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

                            Amongst the Member States, sixteen recorded a decrease in their unemployment rate over a year, two remained stable and six reported an increase. The largest relative falls were observed in Estonia (8.9% to 6.2%), Lithuania (9.6% to 6.9%), Denmark (5.2% in December 2004 to 4.4% in December 2005), Spain (10.1% to 8.4%), and Latvia (9.6% to 8.2%). The highest relative increases were registered in Luxembourg (4.9% to 5.5%), Hungary(6.6% in December 2004 to 7.3% in December 2005), Malta (7.1% to 7.8%), the United Kingdom (4.6% in
                            November 2004 to 5.0% in November 2005) and Portugal (7.2% to 7.7%).

                            The unemployment rate for males fell from 7.6% to 7.1% in the euro-zone between January 2005 and January 2006 and from 8.0% to 7.6% in the EU25. The female unemployment rate declined from 10.3% to 9.8% in the euro-zone and from 10.0% to 9.6% in the EU25.

                            In January 2006, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 17.5% in the euro-
                            zone and 18.2% in the EU25. In January 2005 it was 18.3% and 18.9% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in the
                            Netherlands (7.9%), Denmark (8.2% in December 2005) and Ireland (8.6%), and the highest in Poland (35.4%), Slovakia (30.2%) and Greece (26.8% in the third quarter 2005).

                            Eurostat estimates that, in January 2006, 12.1 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 18.5 million in the EU25. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria.

                            In January 2006, the US unemployment rate was 4.7%, and the Japanese rate was 4.4% in December 2005.
                            "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Ray
                              John has a long moustache! ;)

                              The chair is against the wall?
                              “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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