Influencia Echo Columns

For over two months now, the debate on the "CPE" (Contract of First Employment) has been raging and France has been all the worse for wear.

In this national debate, the influence of allied or detractory forces has been ever present. The media reported at length on the indignation and fight over the legislative proceedings, likening it to "harassment", explaining how the opposition voted, first in the Assembly and then in the Senate, against Article 3a of the Bill on Equal Opportunities, which was to become the "CPE". The voices of the opposition joined up with their social partners, exasperated by the lack of preliminary consultation and condemning the very nature of the "CPE" which would change the work code. As the weeks went on, some members of the government majority started to distance themselves from the debate.

The long-awaited decision by the "Conseil Constitutionnel" and then the televised speech by President Jacques Chirac on 31 March only succeeded in aggravating the anti-"CPE" movement. The opponents were furious when the bill became law. The numerous press reports and analyses of Chirac's speech did nothing to calm down the debate.

Young people remained at the forefront of the movement as the weeks went by. The press drew up a profile of the protestors, trying to explain the deep-seated reasons underlying the mobilisation against the CPE which, according to Mr. de Villepin, was a contract set up to help young people gain access to a first job.

Judging by the remarks and the analysis of the press, this protest movement, which at first was compared to May 68, is a sign of the profound discontent and anxiety of young people who are hoping for a better future and job stability. This is no way resembles the aspirations of the youth of May 68 who wanted a complete overhaul of society. Faced with the overwhelming magnitude of the protest movement, the media recalled the riots that had broken out at the end of 2005 and which were also a sign of social and economic unrest in France.

Nonetheless, all of the titles analysed by Echo Research mentioned differences of opinion among the young people, both on the "CPE" and the demonstrations themselves. They emphasised how worried students were at being locked out of their universities and schools. "Strikers determined, non-strikers infuriated"was how some newspapers summed it up. There were also differences of opinion within companies. The "CPE" had its detractors there too if one was to judge by what was written in the press, which sometimes praised or regretted the discretion of company leaders on the subject.

Sylvie Testard-Ramírez, Managing Director of Echo Research France

Analysis and commentary by Echo Research, on the basis of 3 058 articles which appeared in the national daily press online between 1 February and 6 April 2006.

Published in Influencia.comNewsletter, 13 April 2006