AT LAST President Chirac has come up with a measure. His announcement last week that he was phasing out the long tradition of national military service for young men has met with widespread approval, particularly among those of conscription age.
An opinion poll to be published in Paris Match today found that 61 per cent of French people approved Mr Chirac's decision, the figure rising to 68 per cent among those aged under 25.
The President proposed a civilian service open to both men and women to replace the present regime from 2002. This may be compulsory if Brussels regulations against compulsory work allow it. Or, Mr Chirac said, it could be voluntary, with career incentives for those who undertake it.
He suggested that such duties could include helping out in problem schools, performing socially useful tasks of solidarity or even serving abroad on humanitarian missions.
Certainly, the 10 months of military service that all young men are obliged to spend in barracks from around the age of 19 have become deeply unpopular in recent years.
The inspiration for and origin of national service was the Battle of Valmy in 1792, when an army of pro Revolution volunteers succeeded in driving the foreign forces of the Duke of Brunswick back over the frontier, thus protecting the fledgling republic.
But in recent times, what was supposed to be a great social leveller was open to wide abuses and inequalities. Those who had the right family "connections" could fix themselves up with comfortable postings, service near their homes, or even no service at all.
In the post Cold War climate, the need for a large French army ready to react against invasion of its territory has largely been removed. And one of the peace dividends is that young people often prefer to work for peaceful causes and not learn how to be killing machines.
Other factors are recession and the high unemployment levels among young people (25 per cent), which make national service seem to many young men like a waste off valuable time that they could otherwise be using in starting their careers.
The reaction among high school students at the Lycee Turgot in Paris was typical. "I really don't want to do my military service," said Jerome, a 19 year old who will leave school in a few months. "It's true that our country must be able to defend itself, but I don't like war. A civic service would be more interesting than crawling around like a nerd in a field of mud."
Antonio (17), agreed. "I don't really see myself with a diploma ready to start my working life, having to go off and do stupid things like obeying orders or saluting the same person 50 times a day," he said.
He would prefer some kind of civil medical service, he added. "But if it was just to go and clean graffiti off walls, it would be pathetic."
"Civilian service is a very interesting idea," said Ecevit (18). "It's the first good thing the government has proposed, a real fundamental reform. Because military service today can change you, but not necessarily for the good."
Surprisingly, some of those with mixed feelings about the reform are among France's immigrant communities, where national service is often regarded as a force for integration, a way for deprived youngsters to widen their horizons.
Young men with dual Algerian and French nationalities used to have to perform national service for both countries until a bilateral agreement in 1984 gave them a choice.
These days, choosing between serving for two years in an Algerian army fighting a bloody civil war, or 10 months in France, most young Algerians opt for the latter.
"It's a marvellous way of giving them the notion of their mother country," said Mr Farid Smahi, who works with children of immigrants in the western Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. He opposes Mr Chirac's reform.
"Many of these kids have never even seen the Eiffel Tower. They're like the peasants of the last century. They want to make new friends and get out of their suburbs."