Olivier Véran, government spokesperson and Minister Delegate for Democratic Renewal, was the guest of “8:30 a.m. franceinfo”, Tuesday April 18, 2023. He answered questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Marianne Fund against separatism: “There needs to be transparency”
The Marianne fund, launched in April 2021 by Marlène Schiappa after the assassination of Samuel Paty, is controversial following revelations about the use of grants allocated to associations fighting against separatism. “We need to provide answers”, recognizes the government spokesperson. For some “security reasons”, the list of beneficiaries of this fund has been kept secret. But according to the investigation of Marianne and France 2, four structures alone would share 1.3 million euros. “You need transparency and that’s why there are investigations that are open”he explained.
“Restricting the concerns of the French” to pensions, “is to be next to the plate”
“Restricting the concerns of the French to the sole question of pensions would be to miss the mark”, said Olivier Véran while the unions and the opposition judged the speech Monday evening by Emmanuel Macron little in tune with the concerns of the French. The Head of State has given himself 100 days to put in place a new roadmap with three major projects: work, justice and progress. “We are now going to order, reorganize our way of doing politics over the next few weeks so as to quickly provide concrete answers to the problems that the French encounter in their daily lives”explained the spokesman of the government.
Relations with unions: “I believe in proofs of love”
While relations between the trade unions and the government need to be seriously warmed up, Olivier Véran says he believes “to proofs of love”. He praised the sense of responsibility of trade unions: “The unions have, while we were in a period of strikes and major social tensions, toped with the employers at our request on rules for sharing value in business”he cited as an example.
While Emmanuel Macron wants to put work at the heart of discussions with the social partners, Olivier Véran believes in “the ability of unions that love their country and the employees they represent, to tell themselves that we have an opportunity to make strong social demands so that work pays better, to ensure that people are happier at work. ‘get to work. Unions won’t miss it’he assured.
Index seniors: “It’s one of the subjects we want to discuss” with the unions
Even if the Constitutional Council has validated the entire pension reform, the Wise Men have retested the senior index for large companies with more than 300 employees, considering that the system has “a too indirect effect” on social security revenue and therefore has no place in an amending financing law. “This is one of the topics of discussion that awaits the unions and the President of the Republic when they see each other”said Olivier Véran. “It’s one of the topics we want to discuss. If the unions want to talk about it”he added.
Work: no generalization of the “four-day week”
“I don’t think we should generalize the four-day week”he estimated Olivier Véran, because “there are many places where it does not lend itself”. The government spokesperson wants to focus on front and second line workers: “Their position is not teleworkable, so we have to be able to do everything possible so that the quality of their life at work can also change”he estimated.
“Taxes will not increase”
“Taxes will not increase”he assures. “If there are tax cuts that we can do to improve the purchasing power of the French, we will do it”, he added. Olivier Véran recalled that the government had notably abolished the audiovisual license fee.
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Find the entire “8:30 franceinfo” of Tuesday, April 18, 2023: