On the other hand, Francoise Hollande, the leader of the Socialist Party, claimed victory by calling it an “unquestionable retreat by the Government” or, “a grand success for the young and an impressive victory for the unity of the unions”. 

For almost 5 weeks, student protest had infrequently and without much notice disrupted railway operations, access to airports and roads across the country causing at the very least inconvenience, but also hardship and losses for the ordinary citizens. University and school presidents ignored a government order to use force to reopen their establishments; hundreds of had been blocked by picket lines for more than a month. 

Groups of striking students brought cars to a standstill on the Paris ring road by forming a human barricade on the highways and also on other main streets until they were removed by police.
During this period, polls showed that more than two-thirds favored the CPE law to be changed or dropped.   

The law would have permitted firing workers under 26 years who held a first employment contract of two years duration, without any explanation – a considerable softening of the present employment policy whereby dismissal are subject to stringent and often bureaucratic, procedural statutory constraints. 

These policies were seen as discouraging the creation of jobs and blamed for contributing to the prevailing high unemployment situation. Under present law, it is easy and at virtually no cost for an employee to start litigation against his/her ex-employer contesting a dismissal before a court. 

Labor Relations Courts (Conseils de Prud’hommes) are generally made up of lay judges who are elected from the ranks of employee/employer organizations.  It is rare that the plaintiff is other than an employee and just as rare that claims be dismissed with no award against the employers. 

In other words, dismissals are subject to stringent and often bureaucratic, procedural statutory constraints.
The CPE dispute highlighted a paradoxical situation. The new law was supposed to give private sector companies an incentive to create new jobs for young people. 

This was particularly aimed at easing youth unemployment, especially in the immigrant-dominated suburbs (banlieues), which had experienced serious riots last fall.

Yet, for their part, students protested against CPE since they thought it would take away job security and make them easily disposable assets in a globalizing economy. 

Dominique de Villepin the Prime Minister with his popularity dropping to record lows was, for days, unrelenting in upholding and moving towards with implementation of the new law. Cracks in the ranks of the Government, particularly the decent by the main party, UMP, led by Nicolas Sarkozy - expected to be his principal contender for next year’s presidential election- forced Mr. Villepin to leave the centre stage to President Chirac. 

He told the parliament enigmatically that he would “draw the conclusions” of any decisions made by the law. Hence, the drama extended beyond the immediate issue and changed to a competition among leading politicians.

Observers felt that the developments over the past weeks suggest a serious disconnect, if not division between the decision-making elite in France and the people they govern, especially the unemployed youth. 

A glance at various events since last year points to this direction: the popular rejection by referendum of the European Constitution that President Chirac and the Government had championed, the riots last fall mainly by disfranchised immigrant youth and now the protest by millions youth taking over the streets. 

Elites hardly took notice of these signals and mainly interpreted them as rumblings of an approaching Presidential election! The discontents were pushed under the carpet in the hope that they would soon be forgotten and disappeared.

The recent demonstrations and street riots, however, spread the fire of discontent far - and beyond control. Politicians on the right were humbled if not humiliated by forces they normally tend to ignore.  

Many believe that winds of globalization have fueled a fire globally that is spread beyond control. As a result, France is seen suffering from a loss of identity.

Seemingly, the glory of the past no longer could provide a shelter for security and self-sufficiency.  

France, the champion of the noble causes of liberty, fraternity and human rights, today finds itself exposed to, buffeted by and unprepared for global forces, trends and practices limiting its sovereign maneuverability.

Marginal, if superficial reforms such as CPE are unlikely to restore an equilibrium and may only offer a band-aid and temporary relief. 

The response by the youth in rejecting such small steps towards modernization of employment conditions ensured for the time being the status-quo situation: clinging to acquired rights and privileges linked to social policies and visions often rooted in the past – as is the case with many European countries.

Generous social welfare, education, housing for the poor and a comprehensive health care system are being enjoyed by the French population, while only required working 35 hours per week.   

Unemployment benefits are so attractive that young and middle-aged workers rather prefer that situation than re-entering the work force.

This mentality compounded by other factors makes the country shift towards losing its competitive edge in the global framework.

The students revolted because of their perception and experience that France is not an egalitarian society. Yet, job protection and security is lavished on those graduating from the elite universities and national schools, predominantly attended by students from the upper middle class. 

In the eyes of many, the CPE changes represented a retreat, even a betrayal by the French government of its obligation to ensure equality among citizens and a protection of the rights of the lower classes. French expect their Government to stay engaged and be pro-active with an egalitarian agenda, not to withdraw and liberalize. 

What impact the recent revolt of the streets will have on the ability of the French Government to govern remains to be seen. The 2007 Presidential elections may tilt towards a candidate to the left of the center – with a new rising star of the Socialist Party, Segolene Royal, and a former Minister in the Mitterrand era, and partner of Francoise Hollande. 

Yet, no convincing plan has been tabled by any camp to revamp the French labor market or to reduce effectively youth unemployment.

Thus, irrespective of who will move to the Elysee Palace in 2007, the major question will remain: how can the future Government reframe the mind and expectation of the French in a changed world?

       MehriMadarshahi@MaximsNews.com

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          MEHRI MADARSHAHI is The MaximsNews Paris Correspondent and a former senior United Nations official.  Ms. Madarshahi served as senior Economist (OSCAL), External Relations Officer with the Office for Emergency Operation in Africa, a member of the Secretary-General’s Task Force on the Decentralization of Economic and Social Issues, head of the Management Audit Section (OII), a senior advisor to the Executive Secretary for Reform and Efficiency of the UN, and president of the UN Coordination Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA), where she represented nearly 26,000 international and local UN staff. 

She was the first president of the Staff Council to bring the issue of safety and security of the UN staff in the peace-keeping missions to the attention of the Security Council.  This was after she organized the collection of over 14,000 signatures from the staff at-large in all duty stations of the UN. She also established the Scholarship Fund for staff who lost their lives in line of duty.

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