The Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME) on Thursday asked Prime Minister Michel Barnier for “coherence” in the decisions to be taken after Tuesday’s general policy speech.
The Government continues to break the taboo on tax increases in force since 2017, with increases aimed at large taxpayers and large companies.
François Asselin spoke after a meeting in Matignon with Michel Barnier, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Antoine Armand, and the Minister of Labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet. Michel Barnier has received all the social partners since Tuesday.
He asked Michel Barnier to “call the French as witnesses” of the budget situation.
“Working more is a solution”
For him, “working more collectively is one of the solutions to get out of this,” instead of repealing the pension reform.
He also called on the Prime Minister to be “extremely vigilant” about labor costs and not remove charge reductions for the lowest wages.
The CPME “did not have a concrete response.” “It was mutual listening,” Asselin said.
He confirmed that Michel Barnier seemed “very interested” in the social partners “carrying out the part of the work that is within their scope of responsibility”, on issues such as unemployment insurance and the employment of older people.
“I have not heard a Prime Minister who wants the State to regain control of unemployment insurance, contrary to what I have seen in previous months,” confirmed the president of the CFTC Cyril Chabanier, also received and who judged Michel Barnier “really in dialogue and listening.”
Regarding pension reform, which the CFTC wants to repeal, the Prime Minister was open to discussing the complexity.
The CFTC called for “an increase in the minimum wage,” which is not automatically increased when inflation is below 2% as it currently is.
Budget-wise, the CFTC would like “significant investments” in the energy, green and digital transitions. He asked the Prime Minister for several audits, including one on aid granted to companies.
Source: BFM TV
