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France's new interim centre-right government, appointed in May 2002 for the period until the outcome of the general elections in June, has prioritised dialogue with the social partners and sought to deal with the pressing issue of a long-running dispute with general practitioners.
After the second round of voting in France's presidential election (FR0205106F) on 5 May 2002, Jacques Chirac, the candidate supported by the conservative Movement for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République, RPR), was again elected as President of the Republic. On 6 May, President Chirac appointed a new Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, to lead an interim centre-right government in the period up until the general elections on 9-16 June, following the resignation of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and the previous coalition government led by the Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS).
In an attempt to highlight a perceived weakness of the previous government, Mr Chirac made social dialogue one of the cornerstone commitments of his campaign for both rounds of the presidential election (FR0204106F). In the run-up to the general election in June, the new government also undertook broad-based consultations in an attempt to fulfil the President's commitments and to capture the pre-general election limelight. It is considered a must for any newly-elected government to consult the social partners. Edouard Balladur did so in March 1993 as did Mr Jospin in 1997. 2002 saw a quite different brand of consultations geared to breaking with the previous government's approach, which was seen as 'authoritarian'. There was no shortage of sensitive topics for consultation, including the 35-hour working week, pensions and employment - and the government to be elected in June will definitely have to deal with them. However, the first urgent matter to be addressed was the protracted dispute with doctors, which had reached a critical phase and required prompt action.
On 17 May, Prime Minister Raffarin met in turn with each of the five representative trade union confederations - the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO), the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) and the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l'encadrement-Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC) - and the main employers' organisations - the Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF), the General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes entreprises, CGPME) and the Craftwork Employers' Association (Union professionnelle artisanale, UPA).
Apart from the misgivings of CGT, which asked the government to hold off until the second round of general election voting in mid-June, all the other organisations expressed their satisfaction at the initial meeting. The new Prime Minister's statement on his future approach could not fail to please them, since it focused primarily on the government's commitment to consult the social partners on all sensitive legislative issues. However, all the trade unions declared that they wanted to see what tangible decisions would be forthcoming before passing judgment.
The new Minister of Social Affairs, François Fillon went further, stating that the government intended to interfere 'as little as possible' and to allow the social partners to accomplish as much as possible through negotiation. The Minister also met with each organisation in order to take a comprehensive look at all the issues under his jurisdiction. The government would like to relax the rules for the implementation of the statutory 35-hour working week in small companies and seems to be leaning towards fewer restrictions on overtime for such firms (FR0110108F). The pensions issue (FR0201112F) will be approached with caution. Furthermore, the Minister of the Civil Service, Jean-Pierre Delevoye, met with civil servants' organisations to explore the thorny issue of wages, which had remained a bone of contention with the previous government (FR0105154N). Few commitments have been made due to 2002 budget constraints and the new government's tax-cut pledge, which threatens to curb fiscal leeway in all areas in 2003.
A more pressing area is the issue of an increased fee of EUR 20 for general practitioner consultations, which has been the leading demand during the current dispute with doctors (FR0203105F) and one which was supported by the right-wing parties prior to 21 April. It is an issue that requires prompt action, but the government is endeavouring to avoid a hastily-cobbled-together solution. The issue of funding for such an increase has resulted in a disagreement with the National Employed Workers' Sickness Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale d'assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés, CNAMTS), which is already in the red. Nevertheless, an agreement was concluded with doctors on 5 June 2002.
On all these issues, the government is keen to rapidly distinguish itself from its predecessor and, at the same time, to proceed through its long-term goal of social dialogue. These two approaches are not without contradiction.