The French Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, has announced the creation of a social emergency fund for the jobless, pledging one billion francs (about 100m pounds) from the central government's coffers.

"We have created a social emergency fund for those without jobs.

I have decided to allocate for this purpose one billion francs," Jospin told a news conference broadcast live by French La Chaine Info TV.

He said that after two days of talks with employers, trade unions and the unemployed, his government had to act urgently to create jobs.

"The talks we have held with various people in the past few days have confirmed our belief that we must act, in two directions at once, taking into account both the urgency of this and the need to come up with fundamental solutions in order to obtain lasting results, which involves structural measures," Jospin said.

"We know that the first demand of the unemployed is to have a job.

But we also know that employment is the priority for our fellow citizens as a whole," he said.

"I would like to reiterate to everyone here my personal determination, and that of the government, to do everything to create employment." Jospin also said he was duty-bound to ensure that unemployment benefit offices, or Assedic centres, many of which are currently occupied by militant jobless, could function normally.

"I consider that it is my responsibility as head of the government to ensure that all offices open to the public - and in particular those that provide a service for unemployed people, the Assedic centres - operate normally," he said.

He called on key players in the jobs crisis to take their responsibilities seriously.

"The government is facing up to its responsibilities, but it is not alone in having responsibilities.

Each person must face up to his own responsibilities.

Therefore I hope that all those players involved will cooperate with this action which is one of solidarity and aimed at promoting job creation," Jospin stated.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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