Frances faces new outbreak of social unrest

"The street is a vehicle for social and political expression," Jacques Hillion writes in an editorial. "On the other hand, the fact that, in an almost systematic way, it plays this role in an old democracy and asserts itself as a complement to parliamentary debates is rather exceptional. France is the perfect exemple here. All it takes is for a reform to be announced and the train of protests is set in motion. ... Perhaps that is what lends France its 'charm', even if the multiplicity of conflicts, seen from the outside, leaves the observer perplexed, if not downright baffled. Thus is the case with the Frist Employment Contract (CPE), a reform aimed at fighting joblessness launched by the Villepin government and adopted by the deputies. Yet it sends the students  - who see in it a way of institutionalising precariousness - straight to the streets." 

» more information (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » France
All available articles from » Jacques Hillion

» To the complete press review of Monday, March 20, 2006