Sarkozy Risks Setback In Parliament Battle

The opposition`s parliamentary group has seized the chance to strike a blow against the all-conquering Sarkozy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy risks a rare setback as opposition Socialists wage a guerrilla campaign against two high-profile laws he had hoped to pass before the end of the year.

The proposals, to ease restrictions on Sunday opening hours and overhaul the funding of public television and radio, have aroused fierce objections from the Socialists and unease among many even in Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party.

Wounded by a bitterly divisive leadership campaign that has made the Socialist party hierarchy a laughing stock for much of France, the opposition's parliamentary group has seized the chance to strike a blow against the all-conquering Sarkozy.

With parliament due to close for the Christmas break on Dec. 23, the Socialists have put down thousands of amendments on the broadcast law that have thrown the legislative timetable off track and say they will do the same over Sunday opening hours.

The broadcast law, which the Socialists condemn as a gift to Sarkozy's friend Martin Bouygues, owner of France's biggest private broadcaster TF1, foresees an end to advertising on state television after 8 p.m. from Jan. 5.

But with parliament not due to re-open until Jan. 6 and potentially hours of debate still to go, the government may be forced to issue a special decree to ram the reform into law.

Such a move would represent a symbolic defeat that would leave the government open to criticism that it was overriding France's democratically elected legislature.

The battle over the broadcast law has added a further complication to the proposed Sunday opening law, which the Socialists and even many UMP deputies say will undermine workers' rights and do nothing to stimulate the economy.

"What kind of private or family life is possible without a shared weekly day of rest at a time when society is already suffering from the destruction of social ties?" a group of left-wing deputies said in an article in the daily Liberation.

The government has already been forced to water down the bill in the face of internal UMP opposition, strictly limiting the places where shops would be able to open on a Sunday and giving employees the right to refuse requests to work that day.

Sarkozy fears any further concessions or delays would suggest his reform programme had hit the rocks.

"If we don't do this then I'll be like all those presidents who stopped carrying out reforms after two years in office," he was quoted as telling UMP parliamentarians this week.

"They are making out that I want 12 year old children to work on Sunday," an exasperated Sarkozy added.