PM Borne Meeting With Unions; Strike-Ending Deal Not Anticipated

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is currently meeting with the heads of major trade unions and federations at the Hôtel Matignon, the PM's official residence. Ministers of Labor and the Civil Service, Olivier Dussopt and Stanislas Guerini are also in attendance. Given that the PM has outlined before the talks that any topic will be up for discussion except the controversial pension reforms that have been at the centre of anti-gov't protests, there is little prospect of a strike-ending deal being reached today.

• The newly-elected head of the hard-left CGT union, Sophie Binet, indicated that the meeting could last 'five minutes' if Borne shut down talk on the pension reform, with Binet stating she would walk out of the talks.
• With little expected in terms of compromise in the short-term, focus of the gov't and unions will be on the Constitutional Council. On 14 April the Council is set to deliver its ruling on the legality of the pension reforms pushed through without a vote in the National Assembly via Article 49.3 of the constitution, a move that significantly heightened the uproar over the reforms.