French surrender to union sloth again

NY Times:

French President Jacques Chirac announced today that a contested labor law would be taken off the books, handing a victory to student groups and labor unions who have demonstrated in the millions in recent weeks to have the measure scrapped.

The announcement is a blow for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the chief architect of the law, who until late last week still categorically ruled out dropping the legislation. It comes only eight days after Mr. Chirac had formally enacted the legislation, albeit with promises of a speedy revision and far-reaching modifications.

But over the last week, students and union officials made it clear that they would not be satisfied with anything less than a withdrawal of article 8 — the part of the legislation which creates a controversial new contract that makes it easier for employers to fire young workers.

"The president of the republic has decided to replace Article 8 of the law on equal opportunities with measures that favor the professional insertion of young people in difficulty," Mr. Chirac's office said in a statement.

It was the first unambiguous admission of defeat by Mr. Chirac, who had so far sought to defuse the crisis without disavowing Mr. Villepin, his longstanding ally and favored successor in next year's presidential elections.

...

Jonah Goldberg comments:

It's difficult to draw any other conclusions. If they can't make it possible to fire 25 year-old, nose-picking malcontents and slackers from l'Blockbuster -- in order to give some hope to unemployed car-burning nihilist mobs in the outer suburbs, mind you -- they can't do anything. Write the place off. Put a wall around the nice bits and call it Franceland. The tourists will love the quaint historical re-enactments.

No one gigs the French better than Jonah.

Update: Gateway Pundit has the dope on the next graduating class from the French car burning cults.