In the middle of this unusually gray afternoon on the port of La Grande-Motte, a small crowd forms around the Ministers of Public Accounts and the Public Service.

"You didn't say you were coming!" says Jacques Mestre, a restaurateur on the waterfront.

"It's a surprise!" replies Gabriel Attal with a smile between two selfies and an exchange with a young crab fisherman with his net. "I want to get in touch as directly as possible, people can come and challenge us," insists the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts.

"Here, exchanges are free, people are not handpicked," says Stanislas Guerini.

A refrain hammered throughout the day by the two ministers and their teams, while the trips of the government and the President of the Republic are currently enameled, and sometimes disrupted, by concerts of pots and pans of French opposed to the recent pension reform.

At the end of the day, the ministers were welcomed by about thirty activists of Solidaires Finances publiques and the departmental CGT in the small town of Mauguio, to shouts of "You are gravediggers" or "We will go until the withdrawal" (of the pension reform, Editor's note).

Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal and La Grande-Motte Mayor Stéphan Rossignol, April 25, 2023 © Pascal GUYOT / AFP

At La Grande-Motte, where Stanislas Guerini and Gabriel Attal wandered for more than an hour from the hairdresser to the bakery via the Maison France Services, the welcome is mostly cordial. "Good luck to you, times are tough," an elderly passer-by encourages them outside a beach food store.

'Concern'

Loïc Valverde's tone is much less friendly. Unionized at Solidaires Finances publiques, he was waiting firmly for ministers at the Maison France Services in Castelnau-le-Lez, initially planned for the trip before the executive chose to visit that of La Grande-Motte.

"If you could increase a little the purchasing power of civil servants, it would be good," says this tax officer of the Gard. "And small detail, if you could withdraw the pension reform...", he adds with a touch of irony.

Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal in Lunel, Hérault, April 25, 2023 © Pascal GUYOT / AFP

In 2022, the government granted the largest general increase (+3.5%) in more than 30 years to public officials, replies Stanislas Guerini, the Minister of the Civil Service.

"You are increasing" wages, but "not enough" in a context where inflation is also returning to levels not seen for more than thirty years (+5.7% over one year in March), retorts Loïc Valverde.

Wages, pension reform: "there is a concern of many French," admits Gabriel Attal. Hence the major consultation launched Tuesday by the executive to try to rebuild a link with the French, asking them how they want their taxes to be used.

In addition to an online questionnaire addressed to the 40 million tax households, "there will be public meetings in all departments by the summer", in order to feed the government's draft budget for 2024, said Gabriel Attal in introducing the first of these public meetings, in Mauguio.

Public Service Minister Stanislas Guerini and Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal, at the Lunel tax office, April 25, 2023 © Pascal GUYOT / AFP

Faced with about forty citizens invited by the Renaissance deputy of the Hérault Patrick Vignal, Gabriel Attal and Stanislas Guerini especially defended the government's fiscal record - "50 billion in tax cuts" during Emmanuel Macron's first five-year term - and presented some projects: measures to attract the civil service, plan to fight against fraud...

After about forty minutes, the exchanges end over a drink and some salty biscuits. On the other side of the street, the demonstrators are less numerous but we still hear "Macron resign".

© 2023 AFP