Protesters to take to the streets on Thursday as Sophie Binet slams lack of real change from Sebastien Lecornu.

French labor unions have vowed to ramp up pressure on new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu with a day of protests planned for Thursday, aimed at influencing the drafting of the 2026 budget, for which they are demanding radical changes.

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On Monday, Sophie Binet, secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), criticized Lecornu for speaking of a “break” since his appointment on Sept. 9 but failing to take “any act of rupture.” She made the comments after a meeting with Lecornu, who is holding a round of talks with unions and political parties.

Binet stressed that the meeting “confirms more than ever the need to mobilize on the 18th,” warning that protests will continue “as long as there is no response” to union demands. The leader of France’s second-largest union said the budget debate “will not take place only in the National Assembly, but also in the streets.”

Lecornu, who has served in every government under President Emmanuel Macron since 2017, now faces the task of preparing the 2026 budget after the failure of his predecessor, François Bayrou. Bayrou’s government collapsed Sept. 8 after losing a confidence vote in the National Assembly over his proposed budget, which called for roughly 44 billion euros in deficit reductions by 2026.

Lecornu has ruled out one of the most controversial measures in that plan: eliminating two public holidays. Binet said that decision does not mean abandoning “anything from the museum of horrors that Emmanuel Macron had planned in his budget project.”

She also said what the French are demanding is “the repeal of the pension reform,” a deeply controversial measure adopted in 2023 without a parliamentary vote that raised the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.

The meeting with Binet was Lecornu’s second major encounter with unions, after he met Friday with Marilyse Leon, general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), the country’s largest union.

On Monday afternoon, the prime minister is scheduled to meet with smaller unions and employer organizations. On Tuesday, he will hold talks with minor political parties ahead of a key round of meetings Wednesday, when he will receive leaders of the Socialist Party (PS) and the far-right National Rally (RN).

Marine Le Pen’s RN has taken a hard-line stance that leaves no room for negotiations, demanding either new legislative elections or Macron’s resignation. As a result, the Socialists are seen as Lecornu’s best hope to broaden the parliamentary base needed to pass the budget.

On Monday, PS First Secretary Olivier Faure said the prime minister would have to choose between the demands of the left and those of the right and business groups.

“People are calling for social justice, fiscal justice, launching the ecological transition, ensuring that those who live badly can live better, and for now we are far from that,” he said.

The Socialists’ flagship proposal is the so-called “Zucman tax,” a 2% levy on individuals with assets over 100 million euros whose current taxation falls below that threshold. The measure would affect fewer than 2,000 taxpayers in France.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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