Hardening of the rules of unemployment insurance, pension reform… the Head of State gives an appointment in September to the social partners.
Emmanuel Macron has no intention of giving up on his projects which clash with the unions. During the television interview he gave on Thursday, July 14, the head of state showed determination on two burning issues: unemployment insurance and pensions.
The first, synonymous with stricter rules for job seekers, will be the subject of measures in a legislative text devoted to “labour reform” and drawn up “on the return of summer” . The other theme will be addressed “at the start of the school year” , as part of a “strategic and general discussion” , the aim being to achieve “from the summer of 2023” “ a first entry into force”so that people stay in business “longer”.
Basically, there is no surprise: Mr. Macron’s statements are an extension of the “pact” he proposed during the presidential campaign. They nevertheless hold the attention, because for several weeks the executive had been discreet and vague, in particular on the subject of pensions. In her declaration of general policy pronounced on July 6, Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, had mentioned this project without mentioning the idea of postponing the age of opening of pension rights to 65 years. An orientation which nevertheless appears in the program of Mr. Macron.
With regard to unemployment insurance, the will of the government was difficult to define. Asked whether the rules should be changed, Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labor, replied on Tuesday on Sud Radio: “We have already done so. An allusion to the hardening of the compensation parameters implemented at the end of the previous legislature. Mr. Dussopt had specified that a reflection was in progress to “extend” the existing provisions, these ceasing to be “valid” from the “end of October” . So many words that could suggest that the status quo would be maintained, at least initially.
“We will go further”
Mr. Macron has finally decided to take action now. On unemployment insurance, “we will go further ,” he said Thursday. The head of state did not give details, but his objective, according to a source within the executive, is to materialize a campaign promise: to make the compensation system stricter “when too many jobs are unfunded” and “more generous when unemployment is high” .
The President of the Republic justified his approach by the difficulties that companies encounter in recruiting labour. “There is not, today, a place in France where people do not tell me: (…) “I am looking for people to work.” Mr. Macron even referred to the controversial exchange he had had, in September 2018, with a young person: “I cross the street and I find you [jobs] ” , he had launched. Small sentence that he assumes more than ever today: “It’s a truth” , he hammered Thursday. The tenant of the Elysée took the opportunity to confide that he had “difficulty to (…) hear” those who say:“I will take advantage of national solidarity to reflect on my life. “ Because this national solidarity, it is those who work who pay for it,” he added. Words that are unlikely to upset the right.
