De Villepin agrees to talks with unions By Martin Arnold in Paris Published: March 23 2006 20:03 | Last updated: March 23 2006 23:26
Dominique de VillepinDominique de Villepin invited trade unions to talks over his unpopular employment law on Thursday “with no strings attached”, a move cautiously accepted by five unions and widely interpreted as a climbdown by the embattled French premier.
The appeal came as Mr de Villepin faced accusations that his refusal to consider changing the law had provoked an unnecessary crisis, with critics suspecting he had allowed his presidential ambitions to override his political judgment.
The meeting could happen on Friday. But the offer for it came only after a long and reportedly heated meeting with President Jacques Chirac, fuelling rumours that the prime minister was ordered to back down.
The new law, which allows companies to fire people aged under 26 in the first two years of their contract without reason, has sparked widespread protests by students and workers which erupted into violence in central Paris yesterday.
Students condemn the “first job” contract, saying it would make them “the Kleenex generation”, used and then discarded.
More rallies and strikes are planned for Tuesday.
Unions want the law withdrawn. François Chérèque, leader of the moderate CFDT union, said: “If the prime minister does not respond positively to our demand to withdraw the first job contract, we will end the conversation.”
Critics suspect Mr de Villepin has fallen into the same trap as his hero Napoleon Bonaparte, ousted after leading France to military defeat at Waterloo.
Analysts, opposition Socialists and members of his own centre-right UMP party said he had tried to push reform too far, too fast, in pursuit of his personal ambitions.
“President Chirac has told him to back down as he was leading the country to the wall,” said Dominique Moisi, a senior adviser at France’s Institute for International Relations. “He tried to convince himself he could be France’s Margaret Thatcher, but forgot he was only the number two.”
Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and Mr de Villepin’s main centre-right rival for next year’s presidential election, has distanced himself from the premier, suggesting he should have held more talks and sought a “more equitable” law.
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