All the social partners gathered around a table alongside a minister, who, at the end of a meeting punctuated by applause, initialed the same document. The scene did not take place in a parallel universe devoid of debate around pension reform. Gathered under the aegis of France 2023, which orchestrates the Rugby World Cup in the country (from September 8 to October 28), the trade unions and employers’ organizations signed, on Wednesday April 5, the social charter of the World Cup in the presence of the sports minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
It didn’t take long for the tone to be set: “I am particularly satisfied to be here, because in a somewhat complicated moment in the country, having an aspect of what our collective intelligence can produce is absolutely essential”explains Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT. “Right now, we’re not signing a lot of great projects… so we’re proud to have signed this one”, extends his CFTC counterpart, Cyril Chabanier. A few hours earlier, on the steps of Matignon, the same two lamented “failure” of the meeting between the inter-union and the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, about the pension reform.
Beyond a few – sometimes pungent – references to current events, everyone insisted, in the aptly named Maison de la mutualité where the offices of the Public Interest Group (GIP) France 2023 are located, on the collective development of this charter, which provides “to ensure social exemplarity” of the organization of the competition. Starting with the Minister of Sports: “Our country has always been innovative in sport, and I feel that with the social charter signed by the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games [Cojo, en 2018] and that of the Rugby World Cup, we have a new example of the French vision behind these major international sporting events.”assured M.me Oudea-Castera.
The counter-example of the World Cup in Qatar
A few months after the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, marred by controversies over the rights of workers who allowed it, and its environmental cost, the minister insisted on the exemplarity expected of the French organizing committee. “I have often said, about the controversies linked to the organization of the World Cup in Qatar, that we needed to invent a new model of major international sporting events”she told the World, on the sidelines of the meeting.
A day after France’s bid to host the Women’s Euro 2025 football tournament was largely rejected by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and while memories of the League final fiasco 2022 champions remain in everyone’s mind, the Minister of Sports highlighted the French model: “In the recent past, we haven’t always been very good. There, we have this World Cup and then the Games [olympiques et paralympiques], we must excel in demonstrating that there can be this new benchmark in major international sporting events, respectful of social order and ecological, environmental and sustainability commitments. »
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