Chirac's Appeasement of "Students" Proves to be in Vain

I recently predicted that the French government would prove themselves to be the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" that Francophobes claim that French people are, by giving into the demands of "students" and unions by withdrawing the proposed modest liberalisation of the French labor "market".

Now Jacques Chirac have tried to appease the left by modifying the already modest proposal by shortening the period under which employers who hire people younger than 26 are exempt from usual extremely rigid labor regulations from 2 years to just 1 year and by moreover saying that employers would now have to give a reason for any sacking of young employees-just what reasons would be considered legitimate and how employers would prove they were acting on legitimate reasons is not clear.

But the "students" and the union now say they settle for nothing less than full withdrawal of the plan, proving the failure of Jacques Chirac's attempted appeasement:

"It seems that Mr Chirac's attempt to please everyone has ended up pleasing no-one, says the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris.

It leaves his government looking weak and indecisive, exactly what his Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin had wanted to avoid, she says.

And it will upset those who want real reform to France's economy, while doing little to quell the anger on the streets, our correspondent adds."