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General policy speech, acceleration on the mask in public places ... The week was not easy for the new Prime Minister Jean Castex. It ends with a crucial meeting, Friday at 9 am: in Matignon, the head of government convenes a "Social Dialogue Conference". Accompanied by five ministers (Barbara Pompili, Bruno Le Maire, Elisabeth Borne, Olivier Véran and Brigitte Bourguignon), it aims to reach an agreement with the employers and the unions on how to approach the major social issues to be dealt with. here at the end of the quinquennium.
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Jean Castex will have to knock down some of his cards
Why a "Social Dialogue Conference"? The term almost recalls the "Great Social Conferences" of François Hollande. Less pompous: it will therefore take place in Matignon, not at the Palais d'Iéna, and will only last half a day. But the will is the same: agree with the social partners on work priorities, define a method and set a timetable. Which means, casually, that the head of government will have to cut some of his cards on Friday.
On pensions, for example, we understood that the resumption of construction of the universal points system is not for now, probably rather for next year. But will Jean Castex launch another project this fall, that of restoring the financial balance of pensions, undermined by the Covid-19 crisis? The employers are in favor, the unions not too much, if at all. Laurent Berger, for example, rejects the rush on this subject, considering that the situation is not yet clear.
What about unemployment insurance reform?
The priority, said all the social partners last week, is employment. On this subject, beyond the details expected on the exemption for the hiring of young people, the head of government will have to say on Friday what he intends to do with the unemployment insurance reform. The second part of this reform, which was to come into force in April and which was postponed to September, will it apply from the start of the school year? And in what form, knowing that it is rejected by all the unions which denounce the harshness of the measures it provides against precarious workers?
On the other subjects (the management of dependency, the transformation of the productive apparatus, the ecological transition ...), the agenda which will be decided on Friday will measure the government's determination to carry out the commitments made by the Prime Minister on Wednesday, before the deputies.