France’s student protests. Les évènements, encore une fois

Date: 18/03/06

The de Villepin government faces its sternest test over its new labour law

BARRICADES, several deep across the cobblestones, block the entrance to Paris's Sorbonne University. Fleets of riot-police vans line the surrounding roads. "We will get only what we know how to take," declares the graffiti sprayed across the wall. Many students think it is May 1968 all over again. Indeed, that might explain the heavy security around the left-bank university, days after riot police went in to break up a night-time occupation by some 200 students. Scenes of violence followed, with furniture and ladders hurled from first-floor windows, and damage of as much as euro1m ($1.2m). Further clashes broke out this week.

Much of the Sorbonne violence was no doubt orchestrated by troublemakers and hard-left elements. But less violent student unrest continued right across France this week. Some 40,000 protesters marched in cities around the country; more demonstrations, backed by trade unions, are planned. Roughly half the country's 84 universities have been either completely blocked by sit-ins or disrupted by student protests, according to the education ministry. Several university chancellors have supported the students' demands.

Their principal grievance is the contrat premiere embauche, or first job contract, devised by Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, for those under 26. It would allow employers to shed workers without justification, though with notice and some compensation, during their first two years. After that, employees would be protected under the same terms as standard permanent job contracts.

Although the aim is to encourage job creation in a country with 9.6% unemployment, resistance has been intense. Polls suggest that most French voters are against the new contract. For the left, it has become a potent way to mobilise anti-government feeling. Even moderate trade unions are refusing to talk to the government unless it scraps the contract, due to take effect in April. Some Socialist deputies have appealed to the Constitutional Council, the highest court, to get the law ruled unequal and so illegal. Jack Lang, a leading Socialist, has called on President Jacques Chirac to dissolve parliament.

So far, Mr de Villepin has stood his ground. Backed by Mr Chirac this week, he insists that he will not withdraw the contract, though he is prepared to talk about improving some guarantees for those who are fired. But he looks increasingly lonely. His poll ratings have collapsed; one this week showed that he had lost 11 points in a month. Le Monde has accused him of "autism". Even his own party has started to mutter about the doubtful wisdom of pressing on. Despite managing the Sorbonne evacuation, Nicolas Sarkozy, his interior minister and potential rival candidate in next year's presidential election, has been almost audibly quiet.

In the face of such hostility, each of the presidential hopefuls faces a delicate political calculation. Mr de Villepin, a careful student of French political history, has concluded that no prime minister who backs down in the face of street protest is ever rewarded by the voters. He is betting that, by standing firm, and waiting for another fall in unemployment, he will earn a reputation for courage that will outweigh the charge of political deafness.

As for Mr Sarkozy, he risks being pulled down by Mr de Villepin's troubles. Several polls show that his popularity is falling alongside the prime minister's, albeit less steeply. Should he stay in government until the UMP party, which he heads, chooses its official presidential candidate in January next year? The longer he does, the greater the danger of fatal contamination. But if he quits ahead of time, he risks being accused of promoting his own needs above those of his fellow citizens.