The hot issues awaiting the new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal

2024-01-10 16:40:21

Published on Jan 10, 2024 at 12:14 p.m.Updated Jan 10, 2024 at 5:40 p.m.

Once his government is formed, Gabriel Attal will inherit particularly delicate files, some of which he opened when he was Minister of National Education.

Tour d’horizon :

· Towards a new reform of the labor market

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After a marked decline since 2017, the unemployment rate has rebounded to 7.4% of the active population. To gain the 2 points leading to full employment by 2027, the cardinal objective of the five-year term, the new Prime Minister is banking on the negotiation of the social partners on the employment of seniors which has just opened. In the event of agreement, he will have to confirm or not Elisabeth Borne’s promise to repeat the terms in full in a bill expected in the spring.

Will he go further? Olivier Dussopt, the current Minister of Labor, is considering Act II of the labor market reform. Bruno Le Maire in Bercy calls for an overhaul of the French social model, unemployment insurance in particular.

Gabriel Attal will also be expected on the France Travail site. The reorganization of the public employment service will require significant budgetary appropriations between now and 2026, even if part of it will be taken from the coffers of Unédic.

· 12 billion savings on public spending to be found

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Gabriel Attal will find a file in Matignon that he closed only a few months ago. The short-lived Minister of Public Accounts – from spring 2022 to summer 2023 – will have to quickly regain his budgetary reflexes. The future finance bill for 2025, which will be presented next fall, now requires political involvement at the highest level of the State, in view of the challenge that lies ahead.

We will indeed have to find at least 12 billion euros in savings to meet the commitments made to the European Union in terms of public finances, while members of the government are having a hard time breaking with “whatever”. it costs “.

To clearly mark the change of era for ministers who are still very spendthrift, Elisabeth Borne herself launched a first salvo in the fall to review public spending, an exercise supposed to deliver strong measures. A second salvo is planned for the coming weeks, and Matignon should be involved. Extremely politically sensitive areas – in education and health – will be on the grill.

· High expectations on health, hot issues of end of life and AME

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Health is at the top of the French people’s concerns at a time when there is a shortage of doctors, but the executive’s strategy to respond to these concerns is struggling to bear fruit and its room for maneuver is narrow given the very poor accounts of the Social Security.

Elisabeth Borne’s government has decided to increase the remuneration of doctors and nurses for night and weekend work, but hospitals remain undermined by staff shortages. As for private doctors, they expect from the new government a further increase in their remuneration from the start of the year.

The President of the Republic also promised Monday to quickly present a strategy on the development of palliative care, before a law, and announced the presentation of a separate text on the end of life, revealed “La Croix”.

Among the other thorny issues is that of state medical aid. Elisabeth Borne promised the right to reform this system of providing care for undocumented people at the start of the year. The Republicans should not fail to remind Gabriel Attal of this commitment, knowing that passing it through the law promises to be difficult.

While the French birth rate is at its lowest, Elisabeth Borne also promised to better prepare society for the aging of the population via the presentation of a “programming law on old age” by the summer.

· Education: new programs, new teacher competitions, new college

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“There is still a lot to do,” Gabriel Attal told school heads on Tuesday, just before taking up his duties at Matignon. Among the projects just started is the “general review of primary school programs”. It should be ready in September for kindergarten, CP, CE1 and CE2 students.

Another strong measure announced last year by Gabriel Attal, the establishment of level groups in French and mathematics in middle school must take place from September for the 6^e et 5^e. Patent reform is planned for the 2024 edition of the exam. With, consequently, the establishment of “high school preparations” for students who will not obtain their certificate and will not be able to enter second grade.

The new Prime Minister assured that he would give the school “all the means to succeed”. Significant funding will be required to reform teacher competitions. Until now accessible following a bac +5, they should be accessible at bac +3, the winners then being interns for two years.

The attractiveness of the teaching profession remains a major subject. Just like, on another level, the generalization of universal national service and making it compulsory.

· Civil service: salary negotiations and review of remuneration and careers

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The Minister of Public Service was due to start receiving unions this week. Reshuffling requires, the bilateral meetings scheduled from this Wednesday by Stanislas Guerini have been postponed. Will stay or not? Whether it is him or his successor, these meetings which were to focus mainly on the project to reform the remuneration and careers of civil servants will take place.

This project is part of the civil service transformation law that came into force in August 2019, which profoundly reshaped the senior management of the State. The conflict over pension reform delayed its opening. But he has made good progress. Before the change of Prime Minister, it was planned to finalize the future bill for presentation to the Council of Ministers at the end of February.

The remuneration of civil servants also remains on the agenda. In 2024 the first annual salary negotiation should take place. The unions are due to meet this month on the subject and a day of action might be scheduled for the second half of March if nothing changes.

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