Pensions: CFDT says stop to negotiations, Bayrou ready to "decide"

"If the organizations consider that it is no longer their time and that a decision must be made, then a decision will be made," the Prime Minister declared on the sidelines of a trip to Briançon (Hautes-Alpes). In the draft social security budget, "there will be a text, whether there has been a prior agreement or whether there has only been preparatory work for an agreement," he added.

Late in the morning, CFDT general secretary Marylise Léon told AFP that her union did not want "further negotiation sessions," even though "the conclave ended on Monday."

She specified that the two final sticking points identified by François Bayrou in reaching an agreement with employers, on hardship and the overall financing of the system, were "two extremely important and structuring elements of the discussions."

The CFDT is one of three unions - along with the CFTC and the CFE-CGC - to have held discussions until the end of the conclave launched by the Prime Minister to amend the unpopular 2023 reform. The negotiations, which were originally scheduled to conclude at the end of May, ended on Monday with a finding of disagreement with the employers (Medef, CPME).

"The intransigence of the employers and their inability to seek a compromise brought the pension discussions to a close on June 23," the inter-union (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC) stressed in a press release, blaming them for "the failure of the negotiations."

But the government has invited them to continue discussing, setting a new deadline of "mid-July" for reaching a conclusion.

"If it takes 24 more hours, maybe it will take three fewer days, but we must see this agreement through to the end," government spokeswoman Sophie Primas explained Friday morning.

"Best efforts" from Medef

"By mid-July, we are all hopeful that we will reach" an agreement on the remaining outstanding points of the 2023 reform: the arduousness and the financing of the measures, she affirmed.

Speaking to the press on Thursday, Mr. Bayrou defended "advances" already made, such as an improvement in the calculation of retirement for women who have had children or a lowering of the retirement age without reduction, to 66 and a half years old compared to 67 years old currently.

Referring to the conclave's "remarkably useful" work, he deemed a final compromise on hardship "within reach." He did not define a framework for these new discussions.

Following the Prime Minister's speech, the social partners were very cautious about the chances of relaunching a process that had not been successful after four months of discussions and several departures (CGT and FO on the union side, U2P on the employers' side).

While promising to make "his best efforts," Medef president Patrick Martin observed that "the remaining points of disagreement will obviously be the most difficult to resolve."

Employers and unions have "completely different ideas" on the crucial issue of hardship, added Eric Chevée, negotiator for the CPME (small and medium-sized enterprises).

In the law

CFTC leader Cyril Chabanier also reiterated on Thursday that "negotiations are over" for the time being, while stressing: "If employers make a phone call saying they are ready to make a final effort on hardship, we will answer."

For Marylise Léon, "if the government wants to find a balanced path," this cannot be done "without compensation for hardship, with the system we have proposed," which was rejected by employers.

In abysmal decline in the polls, on hold until the autumn budget debate, where the National Rally in particular is threatening to censure him, François Bayrou assures that he intends to translate into law any "compromise provision".

A way of assuring the CFDT, close to the socialists, that every step towards the employers will be useful, the latter being encouraged moreover to soften its positions.

It is also a way of taking the socialists by surprise, who have announced that they will maintain their motion of censure tabled after the failure of the conclave.

In fact, with the RN having repeated that it would not vote for it, the Prime Minister knows that he will remain at Matignon at least until the autumn.