Commentary: "Up All Night" demonstrations no antidote to France's economic gloom

The ongoing youth-led "Up All Night" protests will not help France shake off its economic predicaments but instead sharpen social divisions and impede reforms to recover the country's edge amid the economic global competition.

Catching France in a quandary of social governance, the ongoing "Nuit Debout" or "Up All Night" protests have predictably swept France and turned into riots. Triggered by the government's proposed amendment of the labor law, which endorses more autonomy for employers to extend working hours and decide whom to hire and when to dismiss an employee, the protests have once again led to dozens' arrests, workers' strikes and a paralysis of land and air transport.

However frequent and violent their demonstrations, the protesters are also well aware that in order to stimulate the national economy and resume the country's competitiveness hampered by the decades-long inefficient social benefits net, France must reform its rigid employment system and reduce its high labor costs.

The protests come at a time when the country reported merely 1.14 percent growth in 2015 with the youth unemployment rate up at 25 percent. If kept unchecked, the standoff between labor unions and the government will only shake the nation's budding resolve to reform and snatch the chance to reinvigorate the French economy, which will eventually become detrimental to the protesters' interests.

It is certainly justifiable to start a national conversation on finding a solution to the country's economic and social woes as some organizers wish. But perhaps a more pressing topic for a dialogue would be how to boost readiness nationwide to reach compromises between different interest groups, rather than engage in empty talks and point fingers.

French society must also rethink why people are refusing to adopt reforms that would help enhance the international competitive edge of French companies and attract foreign investment. After all, similar reforms have been well accepted and conducted in other European nations.

Reform has and will always invite pains and concessions, but someone has to yield first. As for the current French society, which used to depend on the laissez-faire approach, it is high time to adopt a more pragmatic and rational approach by yielding to some of the interests of the protesters and the country as a whole.

The onus is now on the French, including the protesters, to show commitment to ending the demonstrations and to helping solve France's social and economic problems. Endi