Urgent French jobs plan ruffles feathers

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin presented a bill yesterday that would bypass parliament and urgently push through the government’s new jobs plan, a move that enraged the opposition.

De Villepin has made defeating France’s double-digit unemployment the priority of his administration and says his plan would get bogged down if it had to go through lawmakers. He has pledged to start the conservative government’s €4.5bn job plan on September 1.