
A mandatory exercise for any new Prime Minister, the social partners, employers and major trade unions will be parading at Matignon from Tuesday.
Patrick Martin of Medef opened the show at 9:30 for an interview lasting about an hour. He said he wanted to broaden the discussion envisaged by François Bayrou on pensions to the "financing of social protection" by "capitalization" or "taxation."
Mr. Martin will be followed by the number one of the CFDT union Marylise Léon at 17:00 p.m. and that of the CPME François Asselin at 20:00 p.m. The meetings with the other organizations will continue until Monday on the eve of the Prime Minister's general policy speech before the National Assembly.
These "first discussions" should allow François Bayrou to "hear their demands" and discuss with them "social news" including "what the Prime Minister has put on the table" on pensions, Matignon indicated.
In December, Mr. Bayrou had proposed to the political forces to reopen a discussion, for nine months, on the controversial pension reform of 2023, without suspending it. He had stated that he believed that there could be another solution for their financing than the postponement of the age from 62 to 64, evoking a "points" system.
Pensions, employment, purchasing power, business competitiveness... This first meeting between the head of government and the social partners should not hold too many surprises as to the menu of discussions.
By highlighting, according to Matignon, his "very horizontal method", François Bayrou seems to be following in the footsteps of his predecessor in terms of social dialogue.
The fact that the Minister of Labour, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, is still in her post, now under the supervision of Catherine Vautrin, lends credence to the idea of continuity.
This is somewhat reassuring for the social partners who, unanimously with the exception of the CGT, warned on 17 December of "the instability into which our country has fallen", which "poses the risk of an economic crisis with dramatic social consequences".
Method, calendar
Avoiding "instability" and the spectre of new censorship is the aim of the meetings between the ministers in charge of the State budget and Social Security and the parliamentary groups.
Received on Monday at Bercy, the socialists brandished the threat of censure if they did not obtain "remarkable concessions" from the government which, according to them, has already made "a proposal for modification" of the contested pension reform.
Before meeting with the socialist elected representatives, Minister Éric Lombard had judged that there were "more prospects for a fruitful dialogue" with the left-wing parties than with the National Rally, attracting the wrath of Marine Le Pen.
On Tuesday, it was the turn of the Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families, Catherine Vautrin, to receive the groups on the Social Security budget with the mantra "respect, listening, dialogue, humility and follow-up".
Method, timetable, substantive measures: Ms Vautrin promised to "examine together the essential points of the text of the draft law on financing social security as it was discussed by Parliament in the autumn".
At the beginning of December, the Barnier government fell after the adoption of a motion of censure tabled by the left after the Prime Minister triggered article 49.3 on the Social Security financing bill.
The socialist parliamentary group is once again the first to be invited, at 16:30 p.m., avenue Duquesne.
"We are going back to the last proposals that we made on the PLFSS at the time of the joint committee (CMP)," warned PS MP Jérôme Guedj to AFP.
"Social security has a problem mainly of revenue. We decided on a necessary expenditure, the increase in the remuneration of caregivers, without releasing resources to finance this new expenditure. Today the Ségur costs 14 billion. So what we need is a conference on financing social security, with new revenue," adds the elected representative from Essonne.