Villepin and students stay the course

No changes, yet. Villepin has to be wondering if he is the latest in a long line of "friends" of Chirac that has been prompted to take on something controversial only to get left on his own when the times are tough. Sarkozy used to be Chirac's right hand man until a falling out years ago and Villepin appears to be going in that direction.

At the moment Villepin is pushing this labor reform ahead but the students and unions are not backing down either. I don't believe that the strikes are as bad as the one in the mid-90s that shut down everything for weeks but politicians here tremble from street protests, instead of election ballots. The government arrogantly tried forcing this law without much discussion only to pay the price later. Regardless of the outcome by either side, labor reform is a must if the economy is ever going to improve and if unemployment is going to drop. The students are making a serious mistake if they think that the goals of the unions have anything to do with actually helping youth unemployment.