The president of Medef Patrick Martin underlined on Friday “the good relationship” that his movement maintains with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, the day after a meeting in Matignon. Medef was one of the economic players received by Gabriel Attal on Thursday to prepare his general policy declaration of January 30. “I would like to salute his attentiveness”, indicated Patrick Martin on France Inter, underlining the “good relationship” of the first employers’ organization with the Prime Minister, “in particular in respect of his previous functions at National Education”.
They spoke about “the economic situation, international competition which is becoming terribly tougher, the importance of social dialogue, of a Europe which we want to be more combative and realistic”. Patrick Martin seems confident about the government’s project of simplification of standards, “launched numerous times without result” in the past: “I believe that this time is the right one” he said. He called for “impact measurements” before issuing a new standard.
Be careful about “birth leave”
He also judged, like many economists, “almost impossible” to achieve the government forecast of 1.4% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) this year, fearing that the 12 billion euros in savings that the government wants to seek in 2025 to bring France below the 3% public deficit in 2027, becoming rather “20 billion”.
These savings must be sought, according to him, not from businesses because we “need private investment”, but from “the public sphere, State, local authorities”. Patrick Martin anticipated for 2024 “a net gain in purchasing power on average for private sector employees”. He remained cautious about the “birth leave” announced by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday: we need to know “who will pay and how to ensure that it does not disrupt the functioning, in particular of SMEs”.
Patrick Martin stressed that “the agreement signed on Unedic does not provide” for the alignment of the duration of compensation for seniors with that of other unemployed people, envisaged by the government. But “with the objective of full employment and a lasting balance of our social systems we must question these subjects”. “We need immigrant labor,” he reiterated, in particular to fill “hundreds of thousands of jobs” in personal assistance.
Patrick Martin finally said he had “a positive prognosis” on artificial intelligence, “which will be an element of response to the subjects of demography and tensions over recruitment”.