Its main flaw? Sitting in front of a cup of coffee, Patrick Martin answers in this end of June the questions of the journalists of Ajef (Association of the economic and financial journalists). “I really like people,” he says after a silence, in his hoarse voice. A real job interview answer!
It must be said that he was then in the middle of the campaign for the presidency of MEDEF, a few days before the great debate opposing him to his competitor Dominique Carlac’h. The suspense is now over. At 63, Patrick Martin was widely elected this Thursday, July 6 to take up the torch from Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux at the head of the main employers’ organization.
A result that is not surprising. Already a candidate in 2018, he had been designated number 2 of 55, avenue Bosquet by the boss, who had appointed him deputy president. “Patrick Martin has been around the territorial Medefs and federations for five years and that’s what counts to be elected president: members want to have his cell phone and have already patted him on the back”, decrypts a former member of the House.
Result, the favorite garnered many supporters throughout the campaign (UIMM, Syntec, FIEV, GES, Medef Sud, etc.), despite the affair of the AGS, this insurance intended to pay the employees of companies in difficulty, and which is today at the heart of an investigation. Especially since, on the merits, few things distinguished it from its competitor. Unsurprisingly, both were calling for a supply-side policy, with a further reduction in production taxes or an easing of regulations.
On the form, this owner of a family ETI based in Ain, Martin Belaysoud, specialized in the distribution of products and services intended for the building and the industry, bet thoroughly on the card of experience, highlighting the success of his box and his career within the employers’ organization, which he joined in 1995. Patrick Martin has notably been twice at the head of Medef Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
However, there is no question for this mountaineer who graduated from Sciences Po and Essec to present himself as the simple heir of Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux. “I carry an ambition that is by no means a mere continuation of what has been done,” he said. In his program, he promises to feed the debate of ideas, to renovate the house, but also to reconcile growth and the climate, and to restore the value of work.
A facade of emancipation? “Patrick Martin will follow the same line: there will be few differences with the Medef of Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux”, predicts a connoisseur of the house. Bad news for those who wanted to shake up the employers’ organization a little, which they believe has become a “supporting Medef” in recent years. The most critical say that their new president lacks stature. The others, that he knows the house well and masters its files.
In any case, he will quickly have his work cut out for him, especially on the jointism front. Employers’ organizations and trade unions have just agreed on a “post-retirement” social agenda. In the meantime, the new boss will have a few weeks to prepare for his first major event, the Rencontre des entrepreneurs de France (REF) 2023, which will take place at the end of August at the Longchamp racecourse.
