Public services, the left's unthinkable

“Decommodification”, “public spirit”, “cooperative society”… the left is searching for words to talk about public services and of the role they must regain in the social pact. But they are still in their infancy. Whether in the Socialist Party, La France Insoumise (LFI), the Ecologists, the French Communist Party, or among small parties like L'Après or Place publique, the place given to public administrations and their agents remains marginal in political discourse. This is similar to their low participation in the Spring of Public Services mobilization – a coalition that brought together unions and non-governmental organizations – in May and June, in various cities.

They were hardly heard any more after Prime Minister François Bayrou announced the reduction of 3,000 civil service jobs by 2026 , during the presentation of his budgetary strategy on July 15. The observation of this silence is the same in the presidential camp. Public services could, however, constitute the framework of a new narrative on 21st- ^century society.

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