2023-10-14 21:00:00
The days are always long and trying at Matignon. But this Friday, drama was added. In Arras, late this morning, a French teacher was killed by an Islamist terrorist. When Élisabeth Borne receives La Tribune Sundaynight has long since fallen on his desk.
LA TRIBUNE SUNDAY- Three years almost to the day following the assassination of Samuel Paty, the teaching staff is once once more the victim of Islamist terrorism. Can we really protect our teachers?
ELISABETH BORNE- This attack is a shock for our entire country. Three years following the assassination of Samuel Paty, a professor once once more fell victim to Islamist terrorism. One of his colleagues and two officers on duty at the high school were injured. I want to express all my emotion to the victims, their families, their loved ones, and the educational community, very shaken by what happened. Teachers choose to get involved to enable our youth to emancipate themselves and become citizens of tomorrow. My entire government is fully mobilized to protect them. Given the international context and following this attack, I decided, in agreement with the President of the Republic, to raise the Vigipirate posture by moving to the highest level, emergency attack. In addition to what was put in place following the terrible attacks that Israel suffered, we are taking additional security measures and strengthening existing measures, particularly around educational establishments. The soldiers of Operation Sentinel will increase from 3,000 to 7,000. We are adopting a maximum posture to ensure the security of the French. We must collectively be vigilant without giving in to fear.
We saw that this attacker was in contact with several radicalized people, including his brother in prison. He was the subject of precise monitoring by the intelligence services. The means of surveillance had notably been strengthened. No information collected as part of this surveillance mentioned a terrorist project. Despite the close surveillance to which he was subject, there were no warning signs of his desire to take action.
But at this stage, according to you, there has not been a flaw in our services…
The investigations will shed light on this. Attacks systematically give rise to in-depth analysis to always strengthen our system. What I can tell you at this stage is that nothing in the information we were able to obtain made it possible to predict that this individual, who was being monitored, might carry out the act.
The oppositions are outraged by the fact that the terrorist was not deported even though he was a foreigner and radicalized. What do you answer them?
Fifteen years ago, during Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term, the law changed, making it impossible to expel people who entered our territory before the age of 13, unless they have caused a proven threat to national security. . As for the Arras terrorist, who arrived in France at the age of 6, this was not the case until Friday’s tragedy. This is why the immigration bill, which will soon be examined in the Senate, lifts this protection and will make it possible to expel foreigners who are delinquents or suspected of radicalization. I am counting on those who criticize us today to vote for our text tomorrow.
Éric Ciotti asked you on Friday to activate the state of emergency. Why did you decide not to do it?
The oppositions were already calling for a state of emergency at the time of the urban violence in June. And as you saw at the time, we were able to bring back republican order without resorting to this device. The state of emergency is an attack on public freedoms and the additional tools it offers would not have made it possible to further anticipate the threat presented by the Arras terrorist, including with close surveillance. And I remind you that we specifically passed a law in 2017 to have the necessary levers without having to resort to a state of emergency.
Are you worried today?
I’m not here to be worried, you know. I am here to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our fellow citizens. Which we are doing even more since the terrible attacks once morest Israel. Naturally, we can see the context that this can create. Starting last Saturday, we mobilized our intelligence services and implemented increased vigilance on social networks. The Minister of Justice issued a circular to ask the public prosecutor’s office to exercise the greatest severity with regard to all calls to hatred, apologies for terrorism, anti-Semitic acts or remarks. Ten thousand police officers were immediately mobilized to protect sensitive locations. After the Arras attack, we took further additional measures.
Is what happened in Arras a sign for you of an importation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas?
You should be careful. The investigation will make it possible to determine exactly the conditions and circumstances in which this individual committed the act. The attack on Israel might have been a trigger. He was part of a very radicalized Russian-speaking community which needs special attention.
But in general, do you fear the conflict in the Middle East being imported into our territory?
The President of the Republic called on Thursday for national unity. In the seriousness of the context, this is essential. I also noted during the meeting at the Élysée with all the party presidents that most understood the need for the unity of the country. But I also think that we must avoid the confusion that can exist by importing ideological debates that are not ours.
We will work in the coming days to prevent this.
Israel was the subject of a terrible attack the likes of which this country had never experienced. Our duty is to express our full solidarity with this State and to reaffirm its right to defend itself, by eliminating terrorist groups and striving to spare civilian populations. We must also distinguish between Hamas, which is a terrorist group, which carried out a terrorist attack once morest Israel, and the Palestinian people. You have seen that France maintains its historic position and acts as much as it can with its partners to avoid a regional conflagration.
What is the latest information you have on our hostages?
This is a subject on which, as you can imagine, we communicate with great caution. Of the fifteen French people still missing, it is unfortunately likely that a certain number are being held hostage. We communicate with the Israeli authorities and with actors in the region to locate them and obtain their release.
Have you considered canceling tomorrow’s social conference?
I spoke with the social partners on this subject. Terrorists attack our model of society, civilization, our values. The shock and the emotion are there but, we have agreed, we cannot give in or put our country at a standstill in the face of terrorism.
This conference is held at the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council. Are you expecting a moment of unity?
Yes, in the same spirit as that which the President of the Republic had with all the leaders of political parties in Saint-Denis. It is a moment of dialogue with union and employer organizations. There is a common desire to strengthen social democracy, to have a moment of unity. I note, in this regard, their great spirit of responsibility. Unions staged a national day of action on Friday [sur les salaires]. We discussed the need to be vigilant so that tensions in the Middle East do not enter the processions. It was not the case.
For you, has the page on the pension conflict been turned?
We renewed the dialogue in July. We are continuing it today on the priority of the French: purchasing power. I wanted to receive the social partners last week to listen to their expectations and proposals. This is how we added an additional workshop on professional equality between women and men, at the request of the CFDT, the CGT and FO in particular, during the social conference. The heart of this conference will be the progression of remuneration and career paths. Some employees start their professional lives on minimum wage and are still there years later, it’s discouraging. How to give them perspectives, how to encourage employees to train, to take responsibility, and how to adapt salaries? We must collectively answer these questions.
At the end of this conference, can the French hope for a movement to increase wages?
The last social conferences were devoted to unemployment. This will be devoted to work, which pays better. I note that thanks to the economic policy carried out since 2017, we have created 2 million jobs, that the activity rate – that is to say the share of people in work – has never been so high in our country and that the unemployment rate has fallen by almost three points. But having a job is not enough. We want to have quality jobs. We are therefore going to launch work to obtain concrete impacts on remuneration, knowing that it is not up to the State to lead negotiations in professional branches or companies in place of the social partners.
Are you going to constrain businesses?
Social dialogue does not begin with constraint. We want to encourage, drive, follow progress. There are professional branches whose salary levels are below the minimum wage, certain branches have not reviewed their salary scale for more than twenty years. We want to revitalize negotiation in these sectors. Furthermore, the nature of the contracts has a significant influence on wages: part-time work and short contracts create poor workers whose wages do not allow them to make a living from their work. The State devotes 10 billion euros to the activity bonus and 70 billion euros to general reductions in charges. This is a considerable effort, but we must also question the impacts of these measures on the evolution of remuneration. To increase the net income of a minimum wage employee by 100 euros, the employer must pay 500 euros.
How can these “low-wage traps” be eliminated?
The grids for certain professional branches are no longer adapted to qualifications. Employees acquire skills that are very useful for the performance of our economy without their remuneration increasing. It’s harmful, it makes you lose motivation at work. We need to think regarding it over time. This is why I propose the establishment of a High Remuneration Council, which will be responsible for clarifying the situation and proposing answers.
Is there not a risk of disappointment for the French following this conference?
It is not the role of government to decide on wage increases, but to tackle structural problems to achieve full employment, strengthen work incentives and allow wages to rise.
On equality between women and men, what are you going to do?
The salary gap between women and men is narrowing but it was still 24% in the private sector in 2021, mainly due to part-time job categories. The index that we put in place in 2019 allowed for progress, but it can be improved. At the end of this conference, we will propose to the social partners to launch a consultation to revise this index, taking into account the new European directive on this subject.
The outlook for inflation is one of slowdown. In the meantime, I am aware that the situation is difficult for many of our fellow citizens. The Minister of the Economy worked with mass distribution and manufacturers to increase the number of decreasing or stable labels: these are the 5,000 products in the anti-inflation basket. To have a more massive impact on the Caddy, we have presented a bill aimed at accelerating commercial negotiations between suppliers and distributors. This should allow us to accelerate price reductions.
TotalEnergies threatens to raise fuel prices if you validate an amendment that taxes refineries. What is your decision?
Everyone must realize the seriousness of the moment. It is not appropriate to quarrel or look for winners or losers. I will have the opportunity to discuss with Patrick Pouyanné [le PDG de TotalEnergies] next week. I welcome the initiative he took in capping the price of fuel at 1.99 euros per liter.
Are you going to increase the price of medicines by raising medical deductibles? This decision seems pending…
France is one of the European countries where the most drugs are consumed. Before the Covid crisis, the number of boxes of medicines sold was falling. We are seeing a significant increase today. We must sit around the table, in a spirit of responsibility, with prescribing doctors, pharmacists, patient representatives and naturally Health Insurance to tackle this overconsumption. Franchises are one of the areas of work, but the discussion is ongoing.
Supplementary pension plans want to increase their pensions. Are you going to take money from them for the general system, once morest the advice of employers, unions and all oppositions?
There was never any question of puncturing them. We have reformed pensions to ensure the sustainability of the system. To achieve this, we asked our fellow citizens to work two more years. Savings are thus made in the supplementary plans as well as in the general plan. They should not be spent when they ensure the overall balance of the system. But this is what the agreement concluded leads to. I note that the CPME and the U2P are not in favor of the agreement on supplementary pensions. I would like us to continue the dialogue with the social partners in order to protect the savings made thanks to the pension reform. In any case, we must find ways to save money from the 2024 budget.
Regarding this budget, the Finance Committee rejected your text on its revenue part. Do you fear this scenario in the hemicycle? Are you going to use 49-3 at the start of reading?
In committee, some wanted to mark their positions. I discuss with the majority groups so that we are united in session, as we have been since the start of this legislature. Regarding the use of 49-3, a lot depends on how the debates will take place.
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