France’s economy minister has vowed to push further economic reforms through parliament if needed to bypass mounting resistance in the governing Socialist party, reports the Financial Times.
Emmanuel Macron said the French government would be ready to override parliament again after forcing through a package of business-friendly laws without a vote last week. The pledge comes as the European Commission on Wednesday demanded greater financial efforts and more reforms in exchange for leniency on repeatedly missed public deficit targets.
In an interview with the Financial Times before the commission decision, Mr Macron said the procedure deployed last week to push the reform bill through parliament “is a normal constitutional tool that was used more than 80 times and that will continue to be at our disposal. We need to go faster on structural reforms in France.”
The parliamentary procedure is not without cost to President François Hollande and his centre-left government. It has further alienated Socialist lawmakers unhappy with what were only incremental reforms and it triggered a confidence vote, even if the government survived it easily.
Yet Mr Macron said Paris was determined to make progress on labour market reforms this year.
A bill planned for the summer will seek to loosen rules on worker representation in companies with more than 49 employees. Another measure that could be added to the current reform bill, known as the Macron law, will make it easier for companies to adapt working hours and salaries to varying economic conditions.
“The idea is to restore a dialogue with reformist unions to clarify and simplify worker representation,” Mr Macron said.
These measures are “no revolution”, Mr Macron said, highlighting France’s incremental approach to reforms designed to overcome opposition from unions and leftwing lawmakers. In that sense, they will mirror the reform package that carries his name.
The Macron law, which extends Sunday shopping and liberalises the legal and other professions, is widely regarded by economists as positive albeit with little impact on job creation.