Hollande’s hollow crown

 Paris

Sitting on a crowded café terrace in Rue Saint-Antoine on a sunny evening last week, there was no sense of national crisis. When a motor scooter backfired, no one jumped. The constant racket of police car sirens was ignored. The National Assembly had just voted for the third extension of a seven-month ‘national emergency’ following terrorist attacks that left 130 dead and 368 injured. But talk of violence in the streets generally referred to the police; have they been too rough with the student demonstrators who are conducting all-night sit-ins in the nearby Place de La République? The student demonstrations have been provoked by the government’s new employment law, which is designed to reduce unemployment by making it less expensive for employers to take on new (and largely youthful) staff. Naturally the students are savagely opposed to this idea. Their movement is called ‘Nuit Debout’ (Up All Night) and has spread across France. Their opponents have rechristened it ‘Dormir Debout’ (Asleep on their Feet) but the students are supported by the powerful CGT union, which has done everything in its power to wreck a flagship reform for the Socialist administration that could deal a significant blow to what remains of France’s near-bankrupt ‘tax and spend’ economy. In the event — and in the face of fierce opposition from many of its own supporters — the government managed to force through an emasculated version of the law under Article 49.3 (that is, by decree), and just survived the ensuing no-confidence motion. There is a year to go until the next presidential election and for many voters the delay is far too long. According to the head of the DGSI (French MI5), France is ‘Enemy No. 1’