FRANCE MOLLIFYING PROTESTORS TO LIMIT UNREST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002746 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/WE, EUR/ERA, EUR/PPD, DRL/IL AND INR/EUR AND EB DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR ITA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ELAB EU FR PINR SOCI SUBJECT: FRANCE MOLLIFYING PROTESTORS TO LIMIT UNREST AFFECT ON REFERENDUM REF: A. PARIS 2663 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. PARIS 1649 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Strikes and social unrest, while common in France, have increased in recent months and could well intensify as the May 29 referendum on the EU Constitution approaches (reftel A). In order to deflect unpopularity while still pursuing necessary changes, politicians have long blamed Brussels technocrats and EU regulations for the imposition of necessary reforms. Now, with a constitution for the EU up for a vote, the tried-and-true "blame Brussels" tactic is backfiring. Even though the number of protesters is quite small, they could have a broader impact. Social unrest and street protests on nightly newscasts across the country have an unsettling effect on the public at large, causing people to focus on their own economic problems and concerns which, pollsters believe, would incline many to vote 'no' in the upcoming referendum. As a result, the GOF has quietly tried to mollify several protesting groups and will likely continue efforts to douse these fires with money as May 29 approaches. The protest groups -- primarily state workers and social subsidy recipients -- recognize the pressure is on the government to engineer conditions that will support a 'yes' victory on May 29, and will be merciless about using this to leverage concessions out of the government. Additional protests and events are planned in the next five weeks; it remains to be seen if they will become extensive and serious enough to affect referendum results May 29. End summary. -------------- -- Politicians Trying to Quiet Current Protests... -------------- -- ¶2. (U) Since the March 10 (reftel B) general strike, a number of groups have continued to use the upcoming EU referendum as the backdrop for pushing their protest agendas. Government sensitivity about keeping unrest to a minimum has helped many win unexpected concessions. At the end of March, 5 million civil servants, previously told that there was no money in state coffers for additional wage increases, received 0.8% above the 1% increase given to them two months earlier -- along with a promise to revisit the salary issue in the fall. Stock breeders have also received a �A;pre-referendum gift, with the state agreeing to subsidize four additional annual vacation days (money to pay others to mind the stock). Farmers, who only threatened to strike, were given a six-month extension on subsidies to offset the rise in oil prices. The government similarly set aside 10 million euros for a gasoline fund to end a strike by fishermen, to which one spokesman for the industry responded, "We were not heard," and added that this disappointment "would be seen in the weeks to come." A three-week strike by emergency room workers ended late April 20 with the promise of an additional 15 million euros worth of hospital improvements. Promises to begin salary negotiations on May 17 and to revisit the subject annually ended an 18-day strike by Radio France workers on April 22. Wine growers, despite a government pledge April 18 to double direct aid to struggling growers, continue to protest, pointing specifically to restrictions imposed by Brussels. "Europe brings us nothing," said one wine grower. "Worse, it imposes an unfair competition on us," he continued, complaining that EU limits on wine production are enforced by French controlling bodies, while illegal production allegedly continues unchecked in Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, in Marseilles, a strike by ferryboat workers -- which has become riot-like at times, with cars set ablaze or thrown from ferries into the sea -- has completely shut down the ferry company that operates between mainland France and the island of Corsica. -------------- ... While More are in the Works -------------- ¶3. (U) Despite government efforts to quell social unrest during the run-up to the May 29 referendum, activists are planning a variety of protest actions over the coming weeks. May 1 Labor Day marches will give labor leaders a visible platform, from which some will make the case for a 'yes' vote May 29; but they will also pass in review the Raffarin government's social policies, which they are certain to depict as abysmal failures. France's major labor union leaders have called for a 'yes' vote on May 29; many rank and file members, however, support 'no.' Parliament will vote May 12 on a law designed to make the French postal system more cost effective. Previous plans to close branches and trim jobs have sparked protests, and there is concern that the parliamentary vote may be co-opted by the 'no' camp to fuel anti-EU sentiment. One flash point of government/labor opposition is a dispute over the elimination of a national holiday: in response some 15,000 deaths, mostly among the elderly, during the heat wave in the summer of 2003, the government eliminated May 16, or Whit Monday, from the list of national holidays in order to fund an initiative for the handicapped and elderly. This move, too, has become a rallying point for the discontented, and the Prime Minister has called an April 29 meeting to discuss the issue (septel). Activists have called on workers in all sectors not to report for work on May 16 and to join protest marches instead. Additional protests by scientists and researchers are also rumored. Finally, on May 27, two days before the referendum, the latest unemployment figures will be released. At least one group, however, has canceled planned protest activities. Turks living in France have called off a scheduled march from Strasbourg to Paris to protest alleged racist themes in the debate over Turkey's accession to the EU, hoping to avoid fueling the very thing they are protesting -- anti-Turkey sentiment. -------------- But At What Cost? -------------- ¶4. (U) In light of recent events, some in France have begun to wonder how many other voices will demand their share in the next five weeks, while others have already begun lamenting the cost. Center-right daily Le Figaro published articles April 21 putting the price tag of silencing protesters thus far at 450 million euros and climbing, and speculated that more groups will leverage the coming referendum to their advantage. One politician noted that, in addition to the cost of organizing and carrying out the May 29 vote, the government ran the risk of both a 'no' vote and the specter of additional, deficit-ballooning new expenditures. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The apparent willingness of the Raffarin government to go to considerable lengths to quiet protesters with handouts and concessions seems directly linked to the unsettling effect that a wave of unrest could have on voters at large in the run-up to the referendum May 29. In addition, the government worries -- though this is a distant possibility -- that the protests in the street could be co-opted by the political opposition to the proposed Constitution. Groups of left-wing 'no' advocates are regular participants in the street marches and demonstrations; representatives of the protest groups, however, have been careful to distance themselves from the political advocates of 'no' in order to keep the focus on their economic demands. End comment. WOLFF