After weeks of unprecedented mobilization in France, the long-awaited meeting between Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the unions to try to get out of the social crisis around pensions came to an end on Wednesday and ended in “failure”.
The government, which passed this reform on March 16 without going through a vote in the National Assembly, hoped to renew the thread of dialogue while the unions had warned that they would continue to demand the withdrawal of this text wanted by the president. Emmanuel Macron, who raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The exchange was brief: the meeting with Elisabeth Borne, the first since the beginning in January of a vast mobilization against the reform, lasted less than an hour and ended in “failure”, according to the eight organizations grouped into an inter-union.
“We repeated to the Prime Minister that there can be no other democratic outcome than the withdrawal of the text. The Prime Minister replied that she wanted to maintain her text, a serious decision”, declared the president of the CFTC union, Cyril Chabanier, on behalf of the intersyndicale.
The trade unionists had warned that they would leave the meeting if Elisabeth Borne refused to talk about raising the retirement age, the flagship measure of this reform which has been fueling anger for several weeks in France and which will be at the heart of an 11e mobilization day scheduled for Thursday.
The Prime Minister, who received the organizations at her official residence at the Hotel Matignon for the first time since January 10, had promised to be “listening to all subjects”, despite “points of disagreement” , and hoped to be able to address other future reforms, in particular on hardship at work or the sharing of wealth.
“We refuse to turn the page and to open, as the government proposes, other sequences of consultation”, replied the inter-union on Wednesday.
At the end of the meeting, Mr.me Borne agreed that “disagreements over age” had not allowed for “in-depth” discussions with the unions, but she nevertheless welcomed an “important step” and pledged “not to move forward. without the social partners” on other projects to come.
“Denial of reality”
Everyone is therefore sticking to their position on the eve of a new day of action in the country which should result in new disruptions in certain key sectors of the economy and in schools and high schools.
The executive is banking on protester fatigue as spring break kicks off on April 8. Conversely, the unions intend Thursday “to show that mobilization is still powerful”
Since the end of January, this very unpopular reform according to opinion polls has generated an unprecedented almost weekly mobilization in France, pushing up to 1.3 million people into the streets on March 7 (according to the authorities).
These demonstrations experienced a resurgence of tensions after the adoption without a vote of the reform in Parliament, via article 49.3 of the Constitution, which symbolizes according to the left opposition and certain unions a much deeper crisis.
Leader of the radical left party La France insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon thus accused the Prime Minister of “wall(er) in the denial of reality” and of transforming, by his “obstinacy”, “a social crisis into political crisis”.
Emmanuel Macron’s entourage, currently visiting China, has however denied any “democratic crisis” in the country. “That an elected president with an elected majority, admittedly relative, seeks to carry out a project that has been carried out democratically, that is not called a democratic crisis,” said one of his relatives.
Unions and government now have their eyes turned to the Constitutional Council which will say on April 14 whether this reform is in accordance with the French fundamental law.