contents   inside international essay europa cultur specials 2010 france vs. cpe lyrik for the way

europa intro descendez dans la rue! (fr) crumiri d’europa (it) one step beyond (en) vergeßt ’68 (dt)

cpe ON STEP BEYOND Has the CPE woken up a new student movement in France?    | Karl Eins (BERLIN). “You cannot put out a bushfire with a single glass of water,” said Bruno Julliard, president of the French student union UNEF summarizing the recent developments in France. While Dominique de Villepin and other government officials defend the new First Employment Contract (CPE) university and middle school students, unions and even teachers are protesting against it with strikes and occupations.    Youth unemployment in France for people under 26 years is up to 20 percent at the moment. And most certainly the new contract system that was pressed through the parliament in February with the Prime Minister’s emergency powers will only lead to more problems. The plans are to foster short term contracts, which enable employers to break agreements at any time within the first two years, without explanation. A temporary relief for a deeply rooted problem in France — social insecurity.    Students launched protests in dozens of universities, even occupying the historical buildings of the Sorbonne in Paris for three days. For them this new law is the main difference to the student protests in the late 1960s. At that time, leaving the university, the students found jobs. Today the situation is worse. For many protesters the plans of the government aggravate this development, restricting the financial credibilty of young academics by a two-year probation phase on the job-market.    This is the most important and encouraging signal from this protests: the labour topic has reached the student movement — more: it seems to create a new student movement. The next step has to be: standing shoulder to shoulder with a new labour movement.