France scraps youth job law, bowing to mass unrest

By Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac on Monday scrapped a planned youth job law that provoked weeks of protests, in a climbdown opponents celebrated as an unqualified victory.
The move was a personal blow to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who had championed the First Job Contract (CPE) and seen his popularity slump with the mass opposition and unrest.
In a televised statement, Villepin said he regretted that weeks of strikes and protests showed the CPE could not be applied but gave no details about his own political future, on the line over his handling of the dispute.
"The necessary conditions of confidence and calm are not there, either among young people, or companies, to allow the application of the First Job Contract," Villepin said, adding he would open talks with unions on youth employment.
Students had planned fresh marches for Tuesday and it was unclear if they would call off their strikes and a blockade of many universities and high schools after the announcement.
Villepin championed the CPE contract as a means of reducing youth unemployment and saw his poll ratings plunge as opposition to the measures mounted, damaging his chances of becoming the ruling UMP party's candidate for president in elections in 2007.
"The president of the republic has decided to replace article 8 of the equal opportunities law with measures to help disadvantaged young people find work," an earlier statement from the presidency said.
"CPE IS DEAD"
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