PARIS - FEARING further social unrest, the French government will try to sell its economic stimulus plan to a sceptical nation next week, but is not ready to give into union demands to boost consumer spending, officials said.

Between one and two million workers took to the streets in French cities on Thursday to protest against French President Nicolas Sarkozy's response to the crisis, which has focused on boosting investment rather than giving direct help to families.

He stayed out of the limelight ahead of the Jan 29 strike for fear of fuelling tensions. He is expected to re-emerge from the shadows in the coming days and is likely to appear on prime time television on Thursday evening.

'The president knows very well that there is a huge expectation, which has always been there since the start of this crisis, to explain the situation to the French,' government spokesman Luc Chatel told Radio J on Sunday.

Ministers are due to travel to the southern city of Lyon on Monday to unveil details of its 26 billion euro (S$50.5 billion) stimulus package with a raft of initiatives ranging from new road and rail links to housing and restoration projects.

'The current stimulus plan has to be enacted and the impact needs to be felt,' Raymond Soubie, the social affairs adviser to Sarkozy, told reporters.

The government knows it has to move fast to counter growing discontent amongst voters alarmed by the surge in unemployment.

The European Commission predicts France's jobless rate will soar to 9.8 per cent in 2009 from 7.8 per cent in 2008.

'We're facing two major risks: one is social unrest and second is protectionism,' French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said in Davos at the weekend.

Struggling consumers
The opposition Socialist party has demanded a 50 billion euro stimulus package, with much more emphasis put on helping the poorly paid and measures to encourage consumer spending.

'(Sarkozy) gave into the bankers and he now needs to give into the French people who took to the streets,' said Socialist leader Martine Aubry, playing on populist anger over bank rescue packages unrolled last year during the credit crunch crisis.

But government officials have refused this demand, arguing that such policies were not guaranteed to succeed and would weigh heavily on already parlous state accounts.

'Boosting consumption always ends in the same way. After two years, you need a round of belt tightening. Taxes rise and salaries fall,' Prime Minister Francois Fillon said recently.

Union leaders will meet on Monday to decide how to follow up on their Jan 29 protest, which was universally viewed as a success for the labour movement by the French press.

'A lot will depend on what (Sarkozy) says this week,' said Francois Chereque, head of the moderate CFDT union.

'After Thursday, everyone is mobilised and waiting for a response,' he told Europe 1 radio on Sunday.

A 13-day general strike on Guadeloupe over salaries and prices, which has brought the French Caribbean island to a virtual standstill, has shown how quickly protests can snowball and the government is anxious not to antagonise the unions.

'We need to get everyone working together and to calm tensions,' said one government source, who declined to be named. -- REUTERS