At Europe 1, the employees sail towards the exit. According to our information, 76 employees, including 36 radio journalists, have filed a file to leave as part of the collective agreement termination (RCC) opened in April, and whose volunteering period ended Tuesday evening July 6. The number of candidates is well above the objectives of the agreement, which provided for between 39 and 48 departures out of 204 employees, in order to reduce the 20 million annual losses of the radio. “In twenty years, we had never seen so many people who wanted to leave. At Europe 1, there is an atmosphere of the end of the reign. A new story will be written at the start of the school year ”, notes a journalist.
Since the protest strike against the seizure of Vincent Bolloré, largest shareholder of Lagardère, parent company of Europe 1, the situation has accelerated. The employees learned, Monday, July 5, by The Parisian, that besides Dimitri Pavlenko (columnist in “Face à l’Info”, the program of Eric Zemmour), Laurence Ferrari and Sonia Mabrouk, other figures of CNews would take place at the start of the school year.
Morning star Romain Desarbres will replace Patrick Cohen, Mouloud Achour (“Clique” on Canal +) will succeed Emilie Mazoyer, at the helm of a musical program, and Thomas Lequertier, morning man for the weekend, will follow up with newspapers within the station . “People are fleeing, especially since they discovered the profile of the new faces of the antenna”, comments a veteran of Europe 1.
Second departure plan
This cost reduction plan is only the first salvo. The boss of the radio, Constance Benqué, promised elected officials that a second departure plan would be opened in the wake of the first, to allow all those who have not benefited from the RCC and who do not identify with the new editorial line to go. “It’s dizzying to see this editorial staff empty at such high speed. The leaders, the specialists, the aerial voices will leave. It’s written and quite sad ”, laments a figure of Europe 1, who ensures “That below 80 to 90 journalists”, it is very complicated to produce a generalist radio.
The boss of the antenna, great loyal to Arnaud Lagardère, would even have thought of leaving the ship a month and a half ago. “But, in the end, she adopted the ‘little soldier’ posture in ‘I can’t let the troops down’ mode”, testifies one of them. It also remains to settle the fate of Nicolas Canteloup. The comedian, who laughed at “The great Breton captain” and the “CNewisation” of the antenna, is still not confirmed for the re-entry, even if his contract – of 1 million euros per year – had been extended until 2022.