Project yourself into the future. After the end of the heated debates on the pension reform in the National Assembly, the executive wants to occupy the field for the next two weeks. With chance: a very favorable schedule. Senators will not debate raising the retirement age to 64 until March 2 and the next big mobilization against pensions will take place on March 7.
• Focus on purchasing power
Faced with the threat of a month of “red march” for the portfolios of the French, the government wants to show the maneuver. There is urgency: suppliers are asking hypermarket purchasing centers for increases of 15 to 25% in a context of food inflation at its highest point in years.
This is how Bruno Le Maire receives the representatives of large distribution this week. Although the anti-inflation basket was on the agenda for some time with the aim of guaranteeing some fifty basic products with the “best value for money”, the Minister of Economy seemed to close the door on this option this Monday on BFMTV.
The solution chosen by the executive “will be the one that distributors find most useful and effective” by March 15, the Bercy tenant announced.
The executive also wants to be able to highlight the agreement reached between employers and unions on the distribution of value in the company, which should concern employees much more. 80% of the employees of large groups are thus covered by a profit-sharing agreement or participation in the results of the company, which represents an average of 1,700 euros per year, compared to only 20% of those of SMEs .
Suffice it to say that the government sees it as a true lever of purchasing power. Renaissance, which now wants to play the role of a suggestion box, is working this Monday on the best distribution of benefits between workers and employers.
Finally, the ministers ensure that they remain attentive to the cries for help from merchants who have been particularly affected by the rise in energy prices, such as butchers-catering and bakeries. Emmanuel Macron goes to Rungis this Tuesday, together with Olivier Grégoire, the Delegate Minister for SMEs who will have to do the after-sales service due to the measures adopted in recent weeks.
• Walking through the agricultural fair
The president will continue to take to the field on Saturday, February 25, at the inauguration of the Salon de l’agriculture. The opportunity for the president, relatively discreet in the media scene in recent weeks, for massive baths and exchanges with peasants.
Not without risk: hundreds of farmers arrived in Paris by tractor on February 8 to denounce the ban on neonicotinoids in beetroot cultivation, due to its deadly consequences for bees.
The Head of State could also take the opportunity to give his vision of the last few weeks to the National Assembly. Last Wednesday, the president had denounced before his ministers “the oppositions that” no longer have a compass “and that” are totally lost “.
A union “welcome committee” is not impossible in the show stages to fight against retirement at 64. In 2013, in the midst of a wave of closures of several large agri-food companies, hundreds of trade unionists had occupied the platform of the Ministry of Agriculture, creating a mess during the adventures of various ministers.
• Defense of the immigration bill
Olivier Dussopt, at the forefront of the pension file, and Gérald Darmanin should spend part of the next few weeks preparing their immigration bill. Presented to the Council of Ministers at the beginning of February, this text wants to show a balanced face. It should contain a section that allows the issuance of residence permits to workers in an irregular situation in occupations in shortage.
The bill also aims to facilitate the expulsion of foreigners convicted of crimes and misdemeanors and facilitate the use of OQTF (obligations to leave French territory).
If the right-wing deputies are not convinced by this bill in which several of them see “a call for fresh air for illegal immigrants”, the Government will work first to convince the Senate. It is the upper house that will first address this bill in the coming weeks.
Gérald Darmanin, who wants to seduce the Luxembourg Palace with a right-wing majority, has also made sure to pick up several proposals from François-Noël Buffet, his esteemed chairman of the legal committee.
Source: BFM TV
