“We were taken around for a week”

According to our information, the leaders of the Socialist Party were received this Monday afternoon for almost three hours by several members of the government. But at the end of this meeting, a socialist negotiator expressed his disillusionment.

Final negotiations. Socialist leaders were received at the Ministry of Health this Monday afternoon as part of negotiations for the development of the budget. Before a probable meeting with the Prime Minister, who will present his general policy declaration tomorrow at 3 p.m. to the Assembly.

This was not on any of the ministers' official agendas. According to information from the RMC political service, officials of the Socialist Party – engaged in negotiations to avoid censorship in François Bayrou's government – were received this Monday afternoon, for almost three hours, by several members of the government. Present around the table: the Minister of Labor and Health, Catherine Vautrin, the Minister of the Economy, Eric Lombard and the Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin.

“There will be no suspension” of the pension reform

At the end of this meeting, a socialist negotiator expressed his disillusionment to RMC: “The moment is very tense. The meeting went very badly. We were presented with a copy almost consistent with the budget proposed by Michel Barnier and that we had censored. We were taken around for a week.”

If all the subjects have been raised, it is that of pensions which is at the heart of concerns. “At this stage, they told us that they were proposing a social conference where all the subjects would be reopened. But there will be no suspension, contrary to what we are demanding.”

The threat of censorship still looms

Negotiations which therefore seem blocked this Monday evening. So much so that the socialists once again threatened to censor the government if there was no development in the government's proposals.

On the executive side, an advisor considers on the contrary that the meeting was useful: “Pensions were not the alpha and omega of this meeting, the State budget and the Social Security budget were discussed article by article, it was not pensions or nothing”. The left makes a point of suspending pension reform so as not to censor.

This main question at the heart of the negotiations will be played out this evening at Matignon where Prime Minister François Bayrou receives Olivier Faure, boss of the Socialists. “It is up to the Prime Minister to arbitrate, the ministers have reached the end of things. They showed their desire to find an agreement, but ultimately, the only one who decides is Bayrou,” a ministerial advisor assures RMC.

The boss of the PS Olivier Faure, and the heads of socialist deputies and senators, Boris Vallaud and Patrick Kanner, are also received from 6:30 p.m. by François Bayrou who is trying to obtain a non-censorship agreement.