Dear Claire,

The CPE frenzy is not about french people fighting against a flexible job market.

Jobs are not guaranteed in France. You can get fired at any time. Simply put, the CPE makes it easier for enterprises to fire people under 26.

This in itself is regrettable, because it implies that my generation is considered as second class citizens (by the way, we are going to pay the debt that this government is piling up on us ; we are going to pay the pensions etc...). Worse, this decision is taken by a unelected prime minister and voted by discredited MPs (they lost two elections in a row), who have been in power for the last two decades.

We are the future of the nation ; they denigrate us as « irresponsibles, brainless ». They do not show us any respect : they passed the laws during vacations, like thieves marauding in the night. They did not bother to offer any explanation, and used constitutional artifices to implement this measure faster.

They do not care about the future. They just cater to their own electorate, bent on asking harsh and unequal criminal justice and flashy, but meaningless jobmarket measures.

Villepin is not about to reform the jobmarket thoroughly, something that is sorely needed in France. He is not enough of a visionnary to do this. He is simply creating a gap between generations in order to mobilize his electorate with the next presidential election in sight. It is a dangerous gambit, and so far, it is a spectacular failure.

Fortunately, these election will likely prove to be their downfall, and herald the renewal of the french political class. Some of us have (at last !), developped a political conscience. We are going to kick these conniving bastards out.

Elias

PS : french clerks are as abominable as american ones, so far as I can remember. I think we (americans and french) have to take example on Germans (but then, other people might not agree)