The first deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, castigated Friday “the trial balloons” launched by the government on unemployment insurance or the civil service while “the country needs to be mobilized for good organization the Olympics” which will be held in three months. “Perhaps it would be useful if the government just avoided launching ‘probes’ on this or that reform with the anxiety-provoking potential that this could generate, just in the run-up to the Olympics,” he declared, citing assurance unemployment or the question of civil service reform.
“I am not sure that at a time when the country needs to be mobilized for the successful organization of the Olympics it is wise to experiment in all directions on the reforms that our country needs,” said – he added, questioned during a press conference on the strike notices filed in particular by the CGT. These notices will notably cover the period of the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) and Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8).
“It’s time to get ready for the party”
“We feel, after months of questions, of concerns (…) that a phase of ‘Olympic mania’ is beginning,” he assured. “It’s time to prepare for the celebration in people’s minds,” added the deputy for the Olympics and sport, Pierre Rabadan, who affirms that Parisians have been more enthusiastic in meetings “for a month and a half”.
“We are perfectly in time for preparation,” he also indicated Emmanuel Grégoire. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo will travel to Olympia in Greece on Tuesday for the lighting of the Olympic flame which will arrive on French territory on May 8 in Marseille.
The government announced in March a new reform of unemployment insurance starting this year, aimed at restricting the conditions of compensation for job seekers. Furthermore, he toughened his speech on working hours and layoffs in the public service, an inflection applauded by Medef but decried by the unions.