Almost all social partners are calling for a return to political "stability"

This press release addressed to the AFP, very rare in its unity, is signed - in the alphabetical order of the leaders, which thus intermingles representatives of the employers and the unions - by the Medef, the CPME, the U2P on the employers' side, the CFDT, FO, the CFTC and CFE-CGC on the unions' side. Only the CGT did not sign it.

Entitled "for the attention of our elected officials and political leaders", and marked with the logos of all the signatory organizations, the press release acknowledges that "the instability into which our country has fallen poses the risk of an economic crisis with dramatic social consequences".

"Already," the signatories add, "investment projects are frozen, hiring intentions are being revised, and business failures of all sizes are increasing to the point of reaching a level not seen for a long time."

"It is our duty to alert you to the risks that such instability generates," they add.

"This is why we call, in the name of the trust that the millions of employees and business leaders that we represent place in us and the spirit of responsibility that guides us, to find the path to stability, visibility and serenity as quickly as possible," the text adds.

The signatories also stress that "the path of joint management, which involves dialogue, collective negotiation and the construction of compromises, is capable of providing concrete responses" to this situation, recalling that they "have recently demonstrated this again".

Mandated by Michel Barnier, who was censored on December 4th in the National Assembly, the social partners, who generally have a much more peaceful dialogue than politicians despite their differences of viewpoint, have for example reached an agreement on unemployment insurance in recent weeks.

"As social actors," write the signatories, "we are determined to participate fully in the transformations of our society, faced with an unprecedented budgetary situation and changes, whether technological, geostrategic, demographic or climatic."

And "the social partners will, as always, be there for dialogue and responsibility," they conclude.

Although this joint statement is new, the various organisations have been separately sounding the alarm for several weeks about the economic and social risks caused by the instability of the current political situation.