My profile:
PARIS -- French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur effectively abandoned a disputed law cutting wages for young people in job training on Monday in a major backtrack intended to end mounting youth unrest.
He told high school and university student leaders hastily invited to talks in his cabinet office that he was suspending the law while the head of the national employment agency, Michel Bon, sought an alternative within one week.
The prime minister initially refused to scrap the law allowing employers to pay people under 25 less than the minimum wage on training contracts, prompting the high school students' association, or FIDL, to walk out.
But after further talks, government spokesman Nicolas Sarkozy said Bon's mission was "to define a new system."
Balladur's U-turn, a week after Labor Minister Michel Giraud compared the law to the World War I Battle of Verdun and vowed "They shall not pass," seemed bound to open the Gaullist premier to accusations of weakness.
Balladur Backs Down On Wage Law
29 March 1994
|
|
Tweet |
|
This article has no comments. Be the first to leave a comment |
Discussion
Comments
To post comments you must be registered
Comments via Facebook
Most Read
1.
Vkontakte Founder Tosses 5,000-Ruble Notes Out Window
The founder of the social networking site Vkontakte celebrated St. Petersburg’s 309th anniversary over the weekend by tossing paper airplanes carrying 5,000-ruble notes out a building window.
2.
TNK-BP Head Quits as Shareholder Crisis Flares
Billionaire Mikhail Fridman resigned Monday as chief executive of TNK-BP, plunging the country's No. 3 oil firm deeper into crisis and challenging co-owner BP's grip on the business.
3.
Opposition Applies for 50,000-Strong Rally June 12
The latest major opposition protest may serve as the first test of a tough new rally law that could be approved as early as next week.
4.
Syria Thriving on Russian Coal
International sanctions have failed to halt trade in Russian coal at Syrian ports, with buyers switching to the euro from the dollar in deals facilitated by the Syrian state bank and black-market players.
5.
Feeling Like 'Idiots,' 4 Bikers Flying Back Home From Iraq
Four Russian bikers jailed for five days after entering Iraq with fake visas were to arrive in Moscow late Monday — without their motorcycles but grateful for freedom despite, as one of them said, their “stupidity.”
6.
McCain: Don't Count on Russia to Force Out Assad
The United States can’t count on Russia to force Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, Senator John McCain said on a weekend news program.
7.
Latest RenCap Firings Unlikely to Be the Last
Analysts warned Monday that privately owned investment bank Renaissance Capital would be forced into more redundancies, after it fired a second tranche of employees last week in the same month that it announced its biggest loss for 10 years.
8.
Exxon Pours Concrete for Phase 3 of Sakhalin-1
The bottom half of what will be Russia’s biggest ice-resistant drilling platform looked like a gigantic upside-down table.
9.
Domodedovo Suggested as New Center of Officialdom
Businessman Vasily Anisimov has proposed that the government move federal agencies to land belonging to him in Domodedovo, Vedomosti learned from acquaintances of his and advisers to the city of Moscow on the development of new territories, one of whom said it is likely that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is considering the offer.
10.
Putin's Sobchak Problem
In a recent article that ran in Russia Beyond the Headlines, a newspaper supplement that is produced by state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta and is distributed to leading publications around the world, political correspondent Dmitry Babich wrote: "The much-praised middle class … who were behind the protests never threatened Putin with strikes. The reason was simple: The city could happily live with those people striking."
1.
Tabloid: Superjet Downed by U.S. Industrial Sabotage
A tabloid claims that Russian intelligence agencies are investigating the possibility that the U.S. military may have brought down the Sukhoi Superjet that crashed in Indonesia.
2.
Red Square Flyboy Regrets Air Stunt
When Mathias Rust landed his white Cessna on Red Square on May 28, 1987, he had placed all his hopes for world peace in Mikhail Gorbachev.
3.
Village Grannies Make It to Eurovision Finals
Russia's group Buranovskiye Babushki has made it into the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan, bringing the elderly folk singers from a far-off Russian village to the attention of more than 100 million viewers around the world.
4.
Sweden Wins Eurovision; Grannies Take Second
Sweden’s Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on Sunday before an international TV audience of 100 million, days after angering Azeri authorities by meeting rights activists critical of the host country’s human rights record.
5.
Protest and Chaos Seen in Kudrin-Ordered Study
Continued protests in Russia will likely lead to violence or chaotic change, according to a new study ordered by the former finance minister.
6.
Tensions Rise as Opposition Leaders are Freed
Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny emerged from prison Thursday, while a dramatic standoff erupted at a State Duma hearing over a bill that would hike fines for illegal demonstrations.
7.
More Public Figures Accused of Flouting Road Rules
Following the president's order to cut the number of officials entitled to use flashing lights to skirt through traffic, several incidents of alleged abuse involving high-profile figures have come to light.
8.
150 Detained at Anti-Kremlin Rallies
About 150 people were detained Sunday as scores of people gathered for a series of anti-government demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
9.
Ukraine in Uproar Over Status of Russian Language
Ukraine's ruling party has triggered violent protests with a move to upgrade the official role of Russian, a sensitive issue opponents say will split the country.
10.
Putin's Cabinet Cronies Follow Him to Kremlin
A day after the formation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government, seven ministers who did not make the cut have resurfaced as senior staff in President Vladimir Putin’s administration.
1.
Hundreds of Arrests Set Grim Backdrop for Victory Day Celebrations
As Moscow gears up to celebrate its victory in World War II, 67 years ago Wednesday, the shadow of political conflict shrouds the capital as hundreds of arrests cloud Victory Day festivities.
2.
Russian Satellite Takes Highest-Ever Resolution Picture of Earth
A stunning 121-megapixel snapshot of the Earth was taken by a Russian weather satellite in what is thought to be the highest resolution picture of the planet ever taken from space.
3.
Bodies, No Survivors Spotted at Superjet Crash
Search and rescue helicopters and volunteers struggling through thick forest and mountainous terrain spotted bodies but no survivors on the Indonesian mountainside where a Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed by the time darkness forced an end to the search Thursday night.
4.
Mysterious Photos Reveal an Unseen WWII
After the end of World War II, Paul Sadler returned home to Chicago with three German books and a photo album from the Dachau concentration camp.
5.
Tabloid: Superjet Downed by U.S. Industrial Sabotage
A tabloid claims that Russian intelligence agencies are investigating the possibility that the U.S. military may have brought down the Sukhoi Superjet that crashed in Indonesia.
6.
Furniture Magnate Shot Dead in Mercedes in Moscow Region
A 46-year-old furniture magnate was killed with six gunshot wounds to the head and chest early Sunday as he arrived in his Mercedes at his home in the Moscow region.
7.
Vladivostok Bridge Climbers Fined 300 Rubles Each
Three thrill-seekers who climbed two Vladivostok bridges earlier this week and took photos from the top were fined 300 rubles ($10) each for trespassing.
8.
New Cabinet Has Familiar Cast of Characters
President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced the makeup of the new Cabinet answering to Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, with three-fourths of the members having been replaced.
9.
Superjet Missing in Indonesia With 50 on Board
A dark cloud was cast Wednesday on the revival of Russia’s aviation industry when a Sukhoi-built Superjet 100 with 50 people on board disappeared from the radar screens of Indonesian flight controllers.
10.
Why Putin's Days Are Numbered
On Monday, Vladimir Putin will take the presidential oath of office for the third time. After 12 years in power, Putin has increased his control over the country's major institutions, the siloviki and state bureaucracy.
