Le climbdown

摘要

The French government this week did what French governments do best: it caved in to massive street protests, and binned a controversial reform. On April loth President Jacques Chirac announced that he would "replace" the youth job contract that had provoked nine weeks of student and union-led protests on streets and university campuses across the country. His decision buried the contrat premiere embauche (CPE)—and with it any hopes of loosening France's rigid labour laws.