The French prime minister called yesterday for an overhaul of the country’s stifling labour laws, a day after he was booed by sections of his Socialist party who believe that his administration has sold out to capitalism.
Manuel Valls, who was appointed by President Hollande last year to oversee reform, was on the defensive at the party’s conference amid a revolt among MPs and members who accuse the administration of betraying the working class in favour of business.
He insisted that he would never tamper with the 35-hour working week, created in 1999. “However, we have to re-examine in depth the very manner in which we regard labour regulation to give more latitude to enable employers and employees to take decisions themselves,” Mr Valls said.
The remark went to the heart of the turmoil in the party. French Socialists have never given up the Marxist doctrine on which their party was founded in the late 19th century.
Mr Valls was given a polite reception in La Rochelle yesterday after being jeered at a dinner on Saturday by young Socialists who demanded the resignation of Emmanuel Macron, the reformist economy minister.
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The former merchant banker, who is not a party member, caused apoplexy last week when he attacked the 35-hour week and blamed the left’s aversion to business for the near stagnant economy and high unemployment.
The outcry on the left over pro-business reform has boosted Nicolas Sarkozy’s Republicans party. Le Figaro, its main supporter, said: “Emmanuel Macron is the best right-wing economy minister the left has ever had.”
Pascal Lamy, the former head of the UN’s International Labour Organisation and a left-wing éminence grise, agreed with Mr Macron. “France does not work enough,” he told Europe 1 radio. “The reason why there’s so much unemployment in France compared with our neighbours, Germany and Britain, is that the labour market in France works badly.”