Chirac backs new labour law but protests rage on

FRENCH president Jacques Chirac said last night that he would press ahead with a contentious labour law that would make it easier to fire young workers - but offered some concessions in the hope of calming furious protests and strikes.

In one of the most highly-anticipated televised addresses of his 11-year presidency, Mr Chirac said he would reduce a trial period during which employees could be summarily dismissed from two years to one, and would require employers to offer reasons.

In preserving the principle that workers under 26 would face a lack of job security, Mr Chirac came down on the side of his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, who has argued that businesses will welcome the added flexibility and that the new law would help reduce France’s chronic youth unemployment rates.