The French president is facing growing pressure to intervene in the spiralling dispute over his government's youth jobs law. A day after more than a million people joined one of the biggest protests of recent French history, union leaders urged Jacques Chirac to use his powers to stop the controversial measure, which was voted through parliament two weeks ago and is waiting to pass into law. They called on Chirac to send legislation back to parliament stripped of the First Employment Contract, CPE.In a letter to Chirac, France's five biggest unions urged him to order a fresh reading of the law, without youth job contract measures which allow employers to sack at will workers under 26 at any stage in a two-year trial period. "We ask you, Mr President, to appreciate how much the current crisis is a source of exasperation and tensions in the country," they wrote.
Aides said Chirac, who cancelled a trip to Le Havre planned for Thursday to stay in Paris and monitor the crisis, would speak out in the coming days. An announcement from the Elysee Palace early on Wednesday said that Chirac will speak publicly on the CPE soon, but it did not say when or give any indication of which way he is leaning.