Villepin ruled out strategies that would undercut his country's "social model" which makes it difficult to fire workers.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Wednesday unveiled a raft of measures designed to tackle his country's chronically high unemployment rate, which he called "France's true plight".
In his first major speech to parliament since taking the helm of the government in a reshuffle ordered by President Jacques Chirac in the wake of French voters' rejection of the EU constitution in a May 29 referendum, Villepin vowed action on several fronts but concentrated on smaller companies.
He promised to help small and medium sized businesses by creating simplified hiring procedures, and to facilitate the hiring of youths and jobless people over 50
years of age.
People who have been unemployed for over a year will receive a EUR 1,000 (USD 1,250) payment if they find work, he said.
The budget allocated for the programme, designated as the government's number one priority by Chirac, will be EUR 4.5 billion in 2006, including the cost of cutting payroll taxes to boost hirings, Villepin said.
"It is an important sum, to match the challenge," the prime minister said.
He added that "all our budgetary margins for manoeuvre will go to employment" - and that a promise by Chirac to cut income taxes will thus have to be suspended.
While labour models that have worked "in Europe or elsewhere" will serve as inspiration for France's battle against unemployment, Villepin ruled out strategies that would undercut his country's "social model" which makes it difficult to fire workers.
"All the energy of my government will be committed to this battle," he said.
France's unemployment rate has stubbornly hovered around 10 percent over the past decade, despite Chirac's repeated promises to bring it down. It currently stands at 10.2 percent. |
