French President Emmanuel Macron called on Tuesday for employers and unions to reach an agreement on a new social pact “by the end of this year.”
Macron met with employer organizations that also intend to include the unions in the search for an agreement that restores social peace to the country, putting an end to the protests after the reform of the pension law.
Before the meeting, the president stated that the goal is to define a negotiating agenda “in the coming weeks,” which would leave time to negotiate an agreement “at the end of this year.”
Macron was accompanied by the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, and the Labor Minister, Olivier Dussopt, among other senior officials.
The unions have not yet confirmed whether they will participate in the agreement, preferring to wait until May 1, the symbolic day on which the inter-union union that groups at least 11 union centrals intends to carry out one of the largest street mobilizations in recent years.
The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) called on Tuesday for a strong participation in the protests on May 1, with the aim of forming “a powerful day” that maintains the demand for the repeal of the new pension law.
After the French president’s speech, in a television message broadcast on Monday night, in which he said that “he did not turn a deaf ear” to the response, several ministers gave interviews this morning with the aim of appeasing social tension with promises of power purchasing, distribution of wealth and better local services.
“To restrict the concerns of the French to the issue of pensions would be a misunderstanding,” government spokesman Olivier Véran told public broadcaster Franceinfo.
“The president very clearly recognized the concerns, the difficulties of our compatriots,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told BFMTV channel.
The French president announced on Monday new measures to improve the employment situation in the country, including wages.
The French leader thus responded to the protests that have paralyzed France in recent months due to the conflicting approval of the reform of the pension system.
Following the favorable decision of the Constitutional Council regarding this reform, having rejected only some points of the decision made known last Friday, Macron decided to enact the reform overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Macron had 15 days to sign the law into law, and the immediate signing angered unions that had called on the president for a moratorium.
The revision of the pension law – a project promoted by Macron, which raises the retirement age without economic sanctions from 62 to 64 years – was approved without a vote in the National Assembly, using a provision of the French Constitution that allows it. .
Source: TSF
