France: The two basic principles of “Macronism” will be needed

In theory, “Macronism” has two basic principles that should be considered in the current situation : Protecting people and not jobs; the COVID crisis is generating a profound distortion of the sectoral structure of the economy; protecting jobs in troubled sectors would generate a multitude of “zombie” firms. So a way must be found to retrain employees in these sectors and maintain their income so they can find jobs in growing sectors, i.e. to protect people. The heterogeneity of the economy is very significant in the aftermath of the COVID crisis, as we have just seen. The general measures taken by the government (short-time working, credit guarantees, corporate tax cuts, sector aid, training credits, job creation aid, etc.) must therefore be implemented very differently in each company according to its individual situation. It is impossible for the government to define a quid pro quo for the aid in a global manner; an efficient organisation is one where the quid pro quo (maintaining jobs, wage changes, investments, etc.) is discussed in each company, thanks to an active social dialogue within the company. This second principle is that the role of trade unions is to participate in this social dialogue in companies, not to manage social security or economic policy at national level.