[JURIST] French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin said in separate statements Monday in Paris following a morning meeting [JURIST report] that the First Employment Contract (contrat premiere embauche, CPE) [JURIST news archive] established in a recent law [JURIST document] would be "replaced" with other measures designed to help young people find work. The apparent cave-in follows weeks of controversy marked by major strikes and huge demonstrations in French cities.

A statement [official text] from the French Presidency said:

Sur proposition du Premier ministre et après avoir entendu les Présidents des groupes parlementaires et les responsables de la majorité, le Président de la République a décidé de remplacer l'article 8 de la loi sur l'égalité des chances par un dispositif en faveur de l'insertion professionnelle des jeunes en difficulté.

In a brief television address [recorded video via TF1] following the presidential statement, de Villepin said that disruptions in the universities endangered end-of-year exams, the marches threatened the safety of young people, and that overall the conditions necessary to implement the CPE did not exist. Instead, new job training provisions would be introduced. Read the full transcript [in French] of de Villepin's statement.

Opponents of the law say they are satisfied with this resolution of the crisis, calling the CPE effectively "dead". AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage.