The French jobless activists who have shaken Mr Lionel Jospin's government would like to export their little revolution to the rest of the EU.
So far, non-French participation in the six week-old revolt has been limited to messages of support from the Irish National Organisation of Unemployed and similar groups in Britain, Belgium, Germany and Spain.
A 100-strong Belgian contingent participated in one of the January 17th French marches.
This week, German jobless groups announced they were following the French example and will henceforward demonstrate at least once a month in front of dole offices; the first German national demonstration is scheduled for February 5th.
The European Network of Unemployed (ENU) seeks to mobilise 20 million jobless people across the EU.
Representatives of 13 EU countries attended an ENU conference in Ennis in November 1996, where they demanded a postponement of economic and monetary union, and that EMU be reoriented "to deal with the real problems encountered by people: employment, social and economic security and poverty".
From April until June 1997, ENU organised a dozen marches from as far away as Tangiers and Sarajevo, converging in a 40,000strong march - their largest ever - outside the Amsterdam summit.
Up to 30,000 poor and jobless attended a November 20th demonstration in Luxembourg, when European leaders held an employment summit at Mr Jospin's behest.
"French jobless were the most actively involved in the European marches," Mr Christophe Aguiton, a leader of Act Together Against Unemployment says.
"It was an extraordinary training ground for us, and a lot of the people who've been occupying dole offices first demonstrated in Amsterdam."
Why are the French the most militant unemployed in Europe?
"We have a stronger tradition of social struggle," Mr Aguiton explains. "And in France, where the state plays such a central role, unrest immediately puts the government's survival in question.
"In other EU countries, there are shock absorbers. For example, in June 1997, Mary Robinson met participants from a jobless march. That wouldn't happen in France unless there was an explosion first; Jospin would never have received us at Matignon if this movement hadn't happened."
The European marchers demanded changes in the EU charter to ensure the right to housing, medical care and education for everyone, including the jobless. Mr Aguiton believes the marchers - along with Mr Jospin's campaign pledges, the change of government in France and the prevalence of social democrat governments in the EU - helped to bring about the Luxembourg meeting, and the promise of annual summits on employment in the future.
Despite their reservations on EMU, Mr Aguiton insists that jobless groups are not against European integration.
"We are convinced that Europe will not truly advance unless there is a European social movement," he says.
"Nations build their identity on great moments when they act together - the 1936 Popular Front and May 1968 in France, the 1916 rising in Ireland.
"The important thing is to take the initiative, to do things together.
"If this doesn't happen across Europe, the EU will just be a collage, an aggregate of countries. Our ability to act together is helping to build a European identity."
Reuters adds: Thousands of French primary school teachers marched through central Paris in a colourful procession yesterday to demand the same pay as colleagues with higher diplomas.
Organisers put the number of marchers, who were accompanied by noisy marching bands, at between 15,000 and 20,000. Police said the figure was 7,000.