‘Work more’ – French Socialist angers party faithful

Reformist minister says France’s 35-hour working week, a flagship law of the Left, is a ‘false idea’

EMMANUEL MACRON, France’s reformist economy minister, has caused outrage among the ruling Socialist Party by attacking the 35-hour working week and calling it a “false idea”.

The 37-year-old former investment banker, whom Leftists among the Socialists view as a conservative “ultra- liberal” mole, attacked the law as the Socialists gathered for their annual conference.

Speaking to business leaders, he said: “A long time ago, the Left believed that politics was conducted against business, or at least without it, and that France would be better off if people worked less. These were false ideas.”

The phrase was a thinly veiled attack on the 35-hour law introduced under the government of Lionel Jospin, the former Socialist prime minister. The law’s stated aim was to encourage companies to take on more staff by limiting the amount of time staff are allowed to work. But its many critics insist it has crushed the spirit of Gallic enterprise, made already rigid by labour laws that are inflexible and have dragged French unemployment to record levels.

Leftist rebels of the party were furious, with Yann Galut saying the comments were an “insult” to the great figures of the French Left. Christian Paul, a Socialist politician, said: “I thought Nicolas Sarkozy had come back but I didn’t know he’d joined the Cabinet.”

Le Figaro, the conservative daily, commented: “Emmanuel Macron is the best Right-wing economy minister the Left has ever had.”

Socialist leaders were quick to rein in Mr Macron yesterday, as the annual party conference opened in the western coastal city of La Rochelle – which he is not attending.

Manuel Valls, the prime minister, said the 35-hour week would not be reformed. “The real issues are employment and growth. Small comments harm public life,” he added.

Mr Macron insisted he was not talking specifically about the 35-hour week but of work in general. However, this is not the first time that the clean-cut former Rothschild banker has infuriated the Socialists.

While adviser to President François Hollande, he famously criticised the president’s plan to impose a 75 per cent tax on millionaires as “Cuba without the sun”.

Just one day into his ministerial job in August last year, he prompted a row by calling for more labour flexibility, saying: “We could allow companies and sectors … to depart from the rules on working time and pay.”

He later described France as being “sick”.

Recently, he tabled a raft of reforms to reinvigorate France’s economy, which proved so controversial for the Left that the government had to deploy a rare constitutional procedure, dubbed the “nuclear” option, to force the bill through parliament in February. The reforms, which include extending the number of Sundays that shops can stay open and freeing up certain sectors of the economy, were adopted by parliament last month – though critics say they have lost much of their bite.

Despite the anger that he provokes among the Left, Mr Macron is one of the government’s most popular figures. A majority of French people backed his bill and three-quarters supported diluting the 35-hour working week, polls suggested.

Mr Macron said last week he would push on with reforms to loosen labour laws and pledged to overhaul France’s unemployment benefit system.