As if we needed another example to demonstrate how difficult it is to reform the labor market in Europe. I never would have expected myself to be in agreement with lifelong-beaurocrate-never-been-actually-elected-to-public-office de Villepin, but in this case I must because the measure that he was promoting is the right cure for the disease that France's labor market suffers from. As an employer why would you take the risk of hiring someone young and inexperienced if you knew that you couldn't terminate them if it didn't work out? But it is clear now that France's youth values the guaranteed security that comes with a job more than a job itself. 

Telegraph | News | De Villepin fights for his political life The students were calling on Mr de Villepin to drop his First Employment Contract (CPE) – a youth job scheme aimed at cutting France's woeful youth unemployment rate by making it easier to hire and fire young recruits in their first two years in a company. They argue that the scheme – a personal initiative of the prime minister – simply increases job insecurity.