“This National Council for Refoundation, it smells of scam”, released Wednesday August 31 on franceinfo François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC, (French Confederation of the framing – General Confederation of the executives). Despite everything, the union will respond favorably to the invitation of the President of the Republic, unlike the majority of the opposition parties (Nupes, RN and LR) who do not intend to participate. Emmanuel Macron is launching the CNR on September 8, the key idea of his presidential campaign, to help advance social reforms, such as health and education. François Hommeril does not see what this “gloubi-boulga will bring” at “our democracy which is very tired by the attitude of the government towards the intermediary bodies”.
>> Four questions on the “National Council for Refoundation” that Emmanuel Macron wants to launch after the legislative elections
franceinfo: Are you going to apply the empty chair policy?
Francois Hommeril: It’s not really the custom with us to make the chair empty. So, yes, I’ll go there. I don’t know yet with whom or under what conditions. If you had asked me the question of my motivation last week, I would have been a bit between two waters, a bit skeptical. But after what we have seen of the bill which is presented, in particular on unemployment insurance, this CNR, it smacks of fraud. Things have to be said. We must not run out of breath to make a whole hype around this refoundation, a new method… And to continue the degradation in the way of considering the trade union organizations. This can be seen in an extremely precise way in the draft that has been sent, the first article of which consists of saying about unemployment insurance: “We will do what we want, we will do it by decree and we have up to the end of December 2023 to do it. And anyway, what the unions do, who cares.”
What differentiates the CNR from the Economic and Social Council, for example, that we know today?
He also does a good job. It is not taken into account by the government. But that’s not for today. The reports are quite good. The opinions are good and are motivated. Then, the government has always given a damn about the Economic and Social Council. I do not see how effectively creating an additional form, a kind of gloubi-bulga will bring something to our democracy which is very tired by the attitude of the government vis-à-vis the intermediary bodies. These are all the same signs that are a little stronger than we would expect, and in particular the fact of respecting the social partners in their capacity to negotiate agreements between themselves, to negotiate changes in social standards, to negotiate and discuss economic questions, on the sharing of value. We are still a long way from that. The CNR is still an object of communication, that’s all.
This CNR is of no use, in your opinion?
It’s something that was created at election time to create a bit of a buzz. Now the elections are over. The political context is as it is. You still have to try to make the contraption work a little. But the truth is that no one believes it. Communication is very good. Me too, I do, everyone does, but you have to have something serious to say. There needs to be a political project behind it and there, in this case, we don’t really understand the project. There is no coherence between the speech, which could appear to be a commitment, and the reality of the functioning of the government in this new school year.