5 days ago
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Former French labour curate Muriel Penicaud has led a agelong vocation spanning business, authorities and art, with her caller three-day visit to Athens reflecting this.
Her trip was portion of the “Applied Greek-French Dialogues,” an inaugural of professors and erstwhile ambassadors Michel Foucher and George Prevelakis to foster dialog betwixt researchers, diplomats and politicians of the two countries.
Between a engaged docket of discussions connected the aboriginal of work and sex equality, she besides presented her photography accumulation “Matrix of Worlds.”
“For maine it’s not three antithetic worlds, that is my beingness and I consciousness committed successful these three fields. Politics was much of a chapter, but business, society and photography are a semipermanent commitment,” she tells Kathimerini English Edition.
She admits, however, that during her clip successful office, betwixt 2017 and 2020, she hardly managed to take photos astatine all. “I was working six oregon 7 days a week without holidays almost.”
‘For democracy, you request the mediate class. If you lone person very affluent and very mediocre people, you cannot person a democracy’
As minister, Penicaud spearheaded two flagship initiatives: a large labour instrumentality betterment and the instauration of a sex equality index.
This scale measures sex equality successful companies connected a standard of 100. Penicaud explains that when it was implemented, lone 2% of companies were afloat compliant, with the mean people being 84. “Today, aft 4 years of existent implementation we are astatine 88. So it’s a solid fractional empty.”
Regarding the labour reform, she says she tried to take a balanced approach: reforming labour instrumentality while besides creating opportunities for workers, women and young people. However, Penicaud notes that such a betterment was lone imaginable due to the fact that of the governmental clime successful France astatine the time, which was very antithetic from today.
“Emmanuel Macron was conscionable elected. There was a batch of anticipation successful the state that things would change. We had the bulk successful the parliament. We had a batch of treatment with κοινωνικά partners, employers and employees,” she says, adding that since then, some of her reforms person been trimmed.
Reflecting connected the existent governmental and economical turmoil successful France, Penicaud argues that while the wide system remains strong, the state fund is unsustainable under the contiguous exemplary of κοινωνικά benefits and betterment is urgently needed.
She states that 46% of the wage goes to taxes to money κοινωνικά contributions, a load that hinders wage growth, citing the pension system arsenic a cardinal example.
“When it was created by General de Gaulle, communists and unions aft 1945, there were three working radical to concern 1 retired person. And the beingness expectancy was 65. No fiscal issue. Today, it’s 1.7 working radical that concern 1 retired person, and the expectancy of beingness is adjacent to 80. So it cannot work,” says Penicaud.
She adds that though cuts are unavoidable, they indispensable beryllium accompanied by a wide consciousness of intent and a program for the future, oregon citizens could go disenfranchised.
“Everybody understands that cuts are needed, but cipher wants this successful his sector, which is human,” she says, adding that the situation is not to interruption κοινωνικά cohesion during a process that will inevitably beryllium achy for many.
Penicaud notes that presently successful France galore workers are feeling abandoned not lone by the halfway parties but besides by the left.
“The near enactment has abandoned the defence of workers and employees to the acold right.” Still, she remains doubtful that the National Rally could win the adjacent statesmanlike election.
France, she says, should besides gully lessons from Greece’s crisis, due to the fact that the French system mightiness beryllium healthier than Greece backmost successful 2010, but the risks of a spiraling indebtedness stay high.
“In fact, Greece has paid a terrible price. And then, adjacent during the betterment that has been well managed, there was a batch of inflation, which means a batch of radical mislaid purchasing power. So you tin retrieve financially, but socially it’s adjacent much hard due to the fact that radical are wounded successful their regular life.”
For Penicaud, reforms are not lone astir fiscal equilibrium but besides astir preparing France for a rapidly changing world. Accelerating technological progress, peculiarly successful AI, requires concern successful acquisition and innovation to support up with its interaction connected the occupation market.
“According to the IMF, World Bank and OECD, 1 cardinal jobs crossed the world will beryllium changed, created, destroyed oregon transformed successful the coming 10 years,” she says, adding that this will mostly impact white-collar workers and astir 50-80% of jobs.
She warns that these changes will person an interaction not lone connected the system but connected authorities arsenic well.
“It’s much the middle-class jobs that are being transformed. For democracy, you request the mediate class. If you lone person very affluent and very mediocre people, you cannot person a democracy.”
According to Penicaud, Europe indispensable tackle these economical and technological challenges done cooperation, fostering partnerships betwixt companies crossed member-states including Greece and France.
She adds that bringing together Europe’s champion minds is indispensable to shaping the aboriginal and maintaining sovereignty implicit captious sectors similar AI.
“The French tech and the Greek tech person a batch to bash together,” says Penicaud. “We are not strangers, we are cousins.”
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