Paris (AFP)

The Medef holds Wednesday and Thursday its first "Encounters of Entrepreneurs of France" (REF), university format renovated, largely devoted to the major debates of society and in full debate on pension reform.

"No (s) future (s)": the title of the event is both a nod to the punk movement of 40 years ago and its challenge to the established order, but also a message of hope carried by companies.

"The liberal idea is not obsolete but it must reinvent itself as it has always done, it is up to us to propose solutions," tweeted Tuesday the president of the first French employers' organization, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux .

The return of the Medef leaves the campus of HEC Jouy-en Josas, where he stood since 1999, for the racecourse of Paris-Longchamp, whose brand new building meets the latest environmental standards.

The bosses are invited to "worry about issues affecting the company in France and internationally and that may not affect their business daily but will impact in the coming years," said the AFP Mr. Roux de Bézieux.

After a controversy at the beginning of the summer caused by the invitation to a round table on the populism of the far-right figure Marion Maréchal, the president of Medef wants to "restore dynamism" to the event, by a "back to basics", with open and contradictory debates.

- Amazon and inequalities -

The successor of Pierre Gattaz will open the festivities with a speech that will focus on the future of capitalism, "in a very special period post-G7, with the Brexit in the news" before continuing "more down to earth "on pensions, taxation and unemployment.

It will follow a European sequence with notably French Economy Ministers Bruno Le Maire and German Peter Altmaier, at a time when France would like to see Germany use its budget surplus to revive its weak economy.

On pensions, Mr. Roux de Bézieux said "surprised by the method" chosen by Emmanuel Macron after 18 months of consultation. The President of the Republic announced Monday that he preferred to act on the duration of contribution than the age of departure.

Basically, not to act on the age, it is "to lie by omission to the French", at the moment when is emerging "a budget impasse in 2025" to maintain the financial balance of the system, he judged at the microphone of France Inter.

"It is feared that this is a delaying tactic against the backdrop of electoral concerns in the run-up to the municipal elections," RFI chief executive Patrick Martin added on Wednesday.

In general, however, "we do not have to complain" of Emmanuel Macron, he acknowledged.

"For four years, there have been a number of measures that have been taken for companies: competitiveness pact and work orders", summarized Mr. Roux de Bézieux on BFM Business, also hailing the tax cuts.

The Medef does not decline its guard anyway before the arbitrations of the 2020 budget.

After the "yellow vests" crisis, "the state no longer has the means of its policy: the 17 billion that have been distributed have been on credit.This should not be recovered on the backs of companies at a time when the economy is slowing down, "warned Martin.

Ten ministers and secretaries of state will be present at the REF, including Muriel Pénicaud (Labor), Gérald Darmanin (Public Accounts) and Elisabeth Borne (Ecological Transition), as well as several right-wing politicians, such as Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Amazon, which forest fires have put to the forefront of the G7 plan that ended Monday in Biarritz, will be represented by Indian leader Almir Narayamoga Surui, while French companies signing a climate charter will make the balance sheet at 18 months of commitments taken at the end of 2017.

The theme of inequalities will be declined during several debates from different angles: "French obsession", poverty, men-women, territorial inequalities with one of the initiators of the movement of "yellow vests", Jacline Mouraud, or health.

© 2019 AFP