French PM faces protests over jobs plan, merger

PARIS, Mar 6 (Reuters) French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin faces nationwide protests tomorrow that are set to highlight growing opposition to a youth job plan and trade unions' concerns over a state-backed merger of two energy firms.

Disruptions are expected on air and rail transport and to power production following calls for strikes and rallies by unions opposed to a plan which they say will increase job insecurity for youngsters and fail to reduce unemployment.

The big CGT union has also urged power workers to down tools in protest at the planned merger between state-owned Gaz de France (GDF) and private group Suez, saying it will mean job losses and force the government to cede control of GDF.

A new opinion poll published today underlined Villepin's woes, showing a seven-point fall in his approval rating in the past month to its lowest level since he was named prime minister in May 2005.

''The Villepin government is a Titanic which is taking on water everywhere,'' Jack Lang, a leader of the opposition Socialist Party, told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

Villepin has made clear he and his conservative government will not back down over a new job contract known as CPE which will allow firms to hire people aged under 26 for a two-year trial period before offering them a permanent job.

''Time and perseverance are needed. The government has this,'' Villepin told Le Parisien newspaper yesterday.

UNIONS' DEAF EARS But his promises that the CPE will encourage companies to hire young people have fallen on deaf ears. Unions have also ignored his pledges that the GDF-Suez merger will create jobs and that the state will retain control of Gaz de France.

Protests on February 7 failed to attract as much support as unions had hoped, but they expect a bigger turnout this time.

Villepin has made the CPE contract the centrepiece of his plans to reduce the unemployment rate, which has fallen to 9.6 percent from a five-year high of 10.2 percent last May.

But pollsters say discontent with the plan is the main reason why his popularity has sunk, a worrying sign for him a year before a presidential election in which he could run.

A poll in left-leaning newspaper Liberation put his approval rating at 37 per cent, down from 44 percent in February and 49 per cent in January. The previous low was 41 percent last June.

The slide in his ratings overshadowed a separate poll which showed more than two thirds of French people back the GDF-Suez merger, which Villepin announced after Italian firm Enel hinted at a takeover bid for Suez.

More than two thirds of respondents also supported the government's economic patriotism policy of shielding firms from foreign bidders. The EU's executive, the European Commission, has given France two weeks to explain the events leading up to the 84.16 billion dollars alliance.

REUTERS CH KP2240