Before the merger, the boiling: A bill aimed at reforming public broadcasting – already adopted in the Senate and opposed by the unions – must return to the National Assembly. The conference of presidents of the lower house included it on the agenda of the hemicycle from December 17, 2024.
A postponement due to dissolution
As a reminder, the bill was initially to be studied in June 2024, under the previous legislature, but was postponed due to a busy schedule… then by the dissolution.
The text is, originally, a proposal from a senator from the centrist Union group, Laurent Lafon, which was adopted by the Senate in June 2023. Its flagship measure provides for the creation of a holding company, France Médias, made up of four subsidiaries, France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde, as well as the National Audiovisual Institute (INA).
Do not “standardize professions and activities”
Its planned budget was four billion euros. The previous government had, however, declared that it was ready to exclude France Médias Monde from the system. “We are not going to standardize either professions or activities,” tried to reassure Rachida Dati, the Minister of Culture who is strongly committed to this reform proposal.
The fact remains that the idea is opposed in the Assembly by the left, while the RN is, on the contrary, rather favorable to it.
Our “Public audiovisual” file
In May 2024, the unions launched a large strike movement to oppose the reform which could involve some 16,000 employees. They then expressed their fears of a reduction in resources allocated to public broadcasting, and for jobs.
