• Tweeter
  • republish

French President Emmanuel Macron on February 11, 2019 in Paris. Ian Langsdon / Pool via Reuters

Emmanuel Macron does not mince his words after the failure of the negotiations on the reform of unemployment insurance. Trade unions and employers did not reach a compromise, and therefore sent the file back to the government office. Thursday, February 21, the head of state said bluntly what he thought of the presidents of the department he received at the Elysee.

The social partners did not seize a privilege, in short explained Emmanuel Macron. The president implies that the unemployment insurance is no longer financed by employee contributions, but by the CSG, trade unions no longer have the same legitimacy in this dialogue. And he blames them very much for discarding the state. " Every day, in the country, intermediate bodies, territorial democracy, social democracy ... let us do it. And when you give your hand. My good man is hard ... Take it back, take it back, "he quipped on BFM TV.

But the social partners do not let it count. On Twitter, Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT, blames the executive. " Social democracy has often proven effective when it is not subject to impossible framing letters, knowingly leading the way ," he said. The government was calling for measures to discourage companies from using short contracts. It also required a minimum of one billion euros in savings per year.

Even anger on the side of Force Ouvrière, the number one union Yves Veyrier contests the fact that there was a real social negotiation as supports Emmanuel Macron and rely on the International Labor Organization (ILO): a Collective bargaining is " free and voluntary " .