Kasbarian wants "radical change" in civil service

"We must collectively open our eyes to the reality in our country at the economic level, and make a radical change by changing our methods and management of staff," Mr. Kasbarian declared during a hearing before the Laws Committee of the National Assembly.

"This is why, starting this year, (...) I want to work on implementing a real programme of forward-looking skills management within the State," he said.

"We live in a constantly changing world where technologies are evolving rapidly and, in this context, relying solely on reactive strategies - as we unfortunately do quite often - is unsatisfactory," he added.

The appropriations allocated to the Ministry of Civil Service in the government's draft budget for 2025 have been revised downwards by 27% to around 800 million euros.

"Despite budgetary constraints, I hope that we can continue to carry out major transformations", which will allow us to "free up savings levers by reducing our workforce and redeploying human and financial resources to where the real needs are on the ground", insisted the minister who had said in September that he wanted to "debureaucratise at all levels".

The government plans to cut some 2.200 civil service posts in its draft budget, currently being examined by the National Assembly, in order to reduce the public deficit to 5% in 2025. It also plans to reduce the number of state operators by 10% within four years, Prime Minister Michel Barnier indicated in the JDD on Sunday.

A meeting is planned for November 12 between the administration and the unions on the proposed reform of the civil service, which the latter strongly contest, around subjects such as attractiveness and salaries.

The former Minister of the Civil Service, Stanislas Guerini, who initiated this project, envisaged in particular developing merit-based pay in the civil service, facilitating dismissals and even eliminating the historical categories of civil servants (A, B and C).

The text, which could not be presented to Parliament before the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9, contains "sometimes eruptive measures", his successor acknowledged to the deputies, saying however that he wanted to "pursue this "reform ambition".

"We will consult with the unions, we will see what solution is ultimately chosen": total or partial resumption of the text, draft or proposed law, explained Mr. Kasbarian. "I left all the options on the table and I put it on the social agenda."

Regarding the planned elimination of the individual purchasing power guarantee (Gipa) in a context of declining inflation, a casus belli for some unions, "there was never any question of making it permanent ad vitam aeternam", he said regarding this compensation paid to civil servants whose remuneration has increased less quickly than the rise in prices.

The transformation will also involve "a real simplification cure" of administration to "do better with fewer standards and less paperwork", he indicated the day after the Senate adopted the bill to simplify economic life.

Mr Kasbarian had promised in Les Echos on Tuesday that the Assembly would examine the matter "at the latest at the beginning of next year".