With economic growth standing at just 0.1 percent in the second quarter, and Paris under strong pressure from Brussels to bring its deficit back to below the EU's 3 percent ceiling, the prime minister will also find it almost impossible to finalize a state budget for next year without big cuts in public spending -- each provoking further unrest.
Le Monde warned in a recent editorial that the "rentree" will de Villepin's "first real test."
Mermet was more pessimistic: "Things will radicalize," he said.
"There is a real risk of explosion: we are in a pre-revolutionary situation."
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