Shaking hands with all the white coats on his way, Michel Barnier made his first trip as Prime Minister to the Paris emergency services on Saturday, “listening” to the caregivers, assuring that even “without performing a miracle” for health “we can make progress”.
Welcomed by several elected officials from the right, the former minister of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkoy went to the headquarters of the Paris Emergency Medical Aid Service, housed at the Necker hospital in the 15th arrondissement, where he visited the control room and took part in a round table with the staff.
Michel Barnier particularly praised the “calm” and “professionalism” of the agents who take the calls. “These are also useful qualities when you are Prime Minister,” the head of government stressed because “France is also in a state of emergency.”
On health, one of the “priorities” of his government, he expressed his hope to the press that “rapid progress will be visible in the countryside in the provision of care (…) at the same time as we will continue to work to make the hospital function better, with the staff”.
Michel Barnier should provide more details on his orientations in this matter in the general policy statement that he will deliver to the Assembly, he said, “at the beginning of October”.
The preparation of the social security budget, whose deficit is growing, has been delayed, while the health sector is suffering, between an underfunded public hospital and an emergency crisis.
Several projects aimed at reducing medical desertification have been halted, such as a reform of the nursing profession or the experiment of direct access to specialist doctors.
– No “bluffing” –
Certainly “there are savings to be made” in the context of a large public deficit but “we can make progress in the efficiency of public spending. That is what I am looking for to preserve public service”, he maintained.
Without saying whether he would increase taxes, something the previous government refused to do, Michel Barnier promised to “better (manage) public money, taxpayers’ money”. The day before on TF1 he had called for “greater tax justice” with the idea of ”taxing the richest French people”.
The director of the Paris Samu Frédéric Adnet saw in this visit “a strong symbol”, a “reassuring” message. This visit “is not neutral”, Michel Barnier replied, because it signifies the “personal attention” that he intends to give to public services.
In his new, very precarious position at Matignon, since he is deprived of an absolute majority in the Assembly, Michel Barnier is banking on his ability to “negotiate”, to “bring people together” and to “listen to them”.
On Saturday, he marked his difference from his predecessors. He refused to “show off” during his term, when Gabriel Attal, who handed over to him on Thursday, was accused of communicating too much or of only “reading notes”, as Elisabeth Borne often did.
“We understand better, I am sure, by listening to people, by respecting them,” he insisted.
are/jmt/or
Related News :