“The government’s door is more than open” to the unions, government spokesman Olivier Véran assured RTL on Wednesday, in response to the inter-union’s request to be received “urgently” by Emmanuel Macron. The Élysée did not respond directly to this request, contenting itself with ensuring that “the door of the executive has always remained open”.
“It is the Prime Minister and the government who are in the process of leading this text in its parliamentary journey”, added the minister, specifying that the President of the Republic “is in respect of the institutions”.
“It’s our role to receive the social partners” and we are “wishing to do so because we want to continue to be able to discuss, to work, even beyond pensions, to be able to continue to work on important texts “, insisted Olivier Véran. The head of state had received for lunch in June, after his re-election, the representatives of the main unions, with the exception of the general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, who had declined the invitation.
After a meeting, the intersyndicale announced the holding of two new days of mobilization, including one on Saturday March 11. A second day of protests is scheduled around March 15. “The silence of the President of the Republic constitutes a serious democratic problem”, denounced in a press release the inter-union, which calls for mobilization on March 11 and the day of next week when senators and deputies will meet to try to find a agreement on pension reform, probably around March 15.
Consult our file: Pensions: the big bang
