A hiccup even before the start of the thorny negotiations on pension reform. Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the CGT, declared this Wednesday January 15 in the morning on RTL that she had been informed “fifteen minutes before” that the framing meeting with the social partners announced by François Bayrou for this Friday in Matignon “will not take place” and not have “new date” for her outfit. In his general policy statement on Tuesday, the Prime Minister haddidn't choose to bring this topic back [des retraites] under construction with social partners” and announced to reunite “from Friday” THE “representatives of each organization”.
“It’s exclusively a question of agenda”nuanced Labor Minister Catherine Vautrin, interviewed on BFMTV. “Friday morning, the Prime Minister will already write to all the social partners to present the method and then he will bring the social partners together,” confirmed the minister without putting forward a timetable. “Those who want to come will come,” she added, while considering that “the point is that everyone comes […] because we are talking about the future of the country.
“The Minister of Labor called me around 8 a.m. to warn me and tell me that we would receive an invitation letter on Friday”another union leader told AFP, who does not say “not unhappy”. “I was surprised to learn live yesterday [mardi lors du discours de François Bayrou à l’Assemblée] that there would be a meeting and that you had to be available 48 hours later”he continued.
“We cannot summon people in less than 72 hours either,” for her part underlined Minister Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet on France Info, arguing that “union and employer leaders in our country also have busy agendas.” She assured that this meeting would take place “very soon with all the social partners to precisely set the rules of the game”.
Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet also clarified that “the meeting will be led by a trusted third party: an expert, a guarantor of the negotiation, someone who can inspire confidence” and asked “to the social partners to propose some names”.
“Working around the same table”
The objective of the first meeting desired by François Bayrou in Matignon was to propose to trade union and employer organizations “to work around the same table, to sit in the same offices together for three months, from the date of the Court of Auditors' report” who must establish, by “flash mission”, “the current and precise state of financing of the pension system”.
Without repealing or suspending the very controversial reform adopted forceps in 2023, François Bayrou promised that the negotiation would be held “without any totem and without any taboo, not even the retirement age, the famous 64 years, provided that it meets the set requirement” including controlling the deficit. The Prime Minister, however, threatened: if the social partners do not find an agreement, the current reform will be applied.
François Bayrou is “persuaded” that the social partners will reach an agreement on pensions, and therefore that there will be a law to vote at the end as demanded by the socialists, it was declared this Wednesday in the entourage of the Prime Minister . The socialists, however, demanded, as the price for their non-censorship of the government, that Parliament be seized even in the event of failure of social negotiations.
Update : at 9:36 a.m., with the addition of the statement from François Bayrou's entourage this Wednesday morning.
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