Everybody Loses

Labor leaders and students who have been striking, protesting and even rioting in France were quick to declare victory when President Jacques Chirac caved in and abandoned the youth-jobs law that the furor was all about. But even they were hard pressed to say what they had won. In fact, this was a victory for no one, with the possible exception of doctrinaire union bosses and Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious interior minister who used it to advance his presidential chances.

For the rest of France, and Europe, this is a setback. It scrapped virtually any chance that Mr. Chirac or Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin would attempt serious economic reform before the presidential elections a year from now.

The students rebelled not out of idealism, but to ensure that their first job on graduation would last a lifetime. The unions joined to scare the government out of challenging them and to perpetuate job protections so impregnable that employers are discouraged from creating new jobs. The rest of France backed them by a large majority because resisting change is the national default mode.

After Mr. Chirac surrendered, Mr. de Villepin solemnly declared his regret that the people did not understand his reform. But it was not understood for the same reason that the benefits of the European Union constitution were not understood when the French voted it down last year. The government never bothers to explain unpopular things.

The same politicians are quick to pander to the lowest xenophobic instincts if it seems useful. Mr. de Villepin, for example, made an unseemly fuss over a rumor that PepsiCo might buy a French yogurt company. But he sneaked the labor reform through Parliament with virtually no debate. It is hardly a surprise that the French do not trust their leader.

It would be comforting to say that the crisis might at least spur the French to re-examine their social conservatism. But they seem more interested now in the race to succeed Mr. Chirac. If Mr. Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal, the rising star of the left, really want to lead France, they might start by leveling with the French.