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  Student Riots in France: De Villepin's Waterloo

Student Riots in France De Villepin's Waterloo

By Stefan Simons in Paris

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has abandoned his collision course with a restless population. He is now seeking a compromise with unions in an effort to quell weeks of violent protests. But initial talks have collapsed and the demonstrations could get worse next week.

"A government that listens," Dominique de Villepin has written, "must never retreat, when it believes it's working in the people's interest." That motto would fit on a beer mat. But so would the consequences of such a monarchic, patronizing pose: "Government falls into doubt, the citizens grow anxious, and authority weakens when the streets become a stage for all protest."

These convictions, published three years ago in his manifesto on the hardships of economic reform, poetically titled "The Cry of the Gargoyle," could lead the tanned French aristocrat to a bitter political fall.

Because de Villepin -- who wants to come across as a principled, resolute leader -- looks more and more isolated after weeks of demonstrations in the Paris streets. Even among cabinet members of the ruling UMP party, criticism of de Villepin is rising, along with the fear that the protests might spill over into the suburbs -- where a revolt last fall of marginalized, unemployed youth provided images of street-fighting that looked not unlike civil war.

Villepin Abandons his Collision Course

On Thursday, de Villepin showed his first case of nerves. Faced with an ever-widening street campaign against his new law -- which loosens regulations on the firing of young workers -- de Villepin quit being stubborn and invited union leaders to "talks with social partners, on any topic, and without preconditions" in his official residence, the Hotel Matingnon.

The outcome of his meetings this week with union representatives could determine whether the swelling protests lead to a nationwide general strike next Tuesday -- or whether follow-up talks with unions and student groups can defuse the crisis.

To keep the "workshop" at the Hotel Matignon's round table from being just a photo-op, Villepin will have to compromise on a few central points of his hastily shoved-through reform law.

Unions and student groups, who have been demonstrating publicly since the end of February, don't want to accept the reform, which would leave young, entry-level workers open to firing during a two-year probation period. The so-called "first job contract" (contract premier embauche, or CPE) changes long-established French tradition, which protects all workers from being fired indiscriminately.

If de Villepin is forced to give in on these central points, according to sources inside his party, for such an ambitious, high-level politician it would be "his personal Waterloo."

As late as this week, the prime minister was still crowing that there would be "no retreat, no change, no debasement" of his CPE project. With the "full support" of President Jacques Chirac, who backed de Villepin's unstinting line, he was determined to wait the crisis out.

The categorical "no" of an Aristocrat

He dug his heels in without consulting the students, the trade unions and the political opposition -- an attitude so characteristic of the political elite that it sparked off even more protests on the streets. According to the department of education, 59 of France's 84 high schools have been affected by strikes, sit-ins and blockades.

Even university-track high-school children are on strike. Pupils are taking to the barricades and outright vandalism is breaking out in some schools. Young people are plundering computer equipment, occupying institutes, burning books and destroying classrooms. And the banlieues are again seeing burning cars on the streets and clashes between rioters and stand-by police. In fact, just yesterday, serious riots broke out yet again.

Trade unions are mobilizing themselves into action, in response to the government's provocative stance, by calling for a "comprehensive day of action" for next Tuesday: this is a general strike in everything but name, as not only will train, planes and metro transport be brought to a standstill, but also the work of teachers, hospital staff and postal workers.

These developments are proving to be a stroke of good luck for France's political left. The Socialists have won ground in public opinion: Because of the clear majority enjoyed by the ruling center-right UMP party, they have until now had little opportunity to oppose the prime minister's projects. "Is de Villepin still a responsible leader?" asked Socialist Party General Secretary Francois Hollande. He charges de Villepin with holding the nation hostage to his "own personal strategy."

The same sentiment is being felt by more and more members of the governing party. Members of parliament are watching with increasing nervousness as de Villepin allows the worsening argument about work market reform to escalate into a test of strength between the state and the street.

It seems particularly galling to many that the premier, who demands more flexibility from France's young people, is proving himself to be an inflexible autocratic defender of his own law -- apparently in the hope that with a victory over employee rights he could qualify as a convincing candidate for next year's presidential elections.

Ambitions dangereuses

In the end, such ambitions also pit de Villepin's toughest party-colleague rivals for the presidency against him. Nicolas Sarkozy, who is worried that he might be sucked into the crisis, at first attempted to pass blame on to the prime minister alone. "That is his responsibility," he said, recklessly threatening his own resignation. But then Sarkozy, who fanned the flames of the autumn revolts with his aggressive comments about the youth from the banlieues, went one step further by teaming up with the critics of de Villepin's UMP party.

In return, the head of the UMP recommended to his adversaries in a public interview that "it would be a wise decision if the conflicting parties voted to give the law a six-month trial run."

Earlier this week, de Villepin's political mentor Chirac came to the same conclusion. During the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday the topic wasn't even broached. Before that however, during the traditional tête-à-tête between the head of the government and the president, Chirac threatened the obstinate de Villepin with dismissal. "If there is not any fast movement on this issue," a government insider was reported as saying in the magazine Le Parisien, "then the prime minister is out."

De Villepin has buckled under the pressure. Suddenly sensible dialogue is being proposed, as a way of resolving the deadlocked dispute. Perhaps the prime minister has suddenly realized that a loss of face -- 13 months before the presidential elections -- is best dealt with now rather than later.

His words from 2003, which today sound almost prophetic, must now be bitterly stuck in his throat: "A test of strength is nearly always won by the demonstrators, because they have images and sound on their side, and there are more of them."