A great ministry…and a lot of worries. Leaders of trade union centers and those in the health sector were doubtful after the appointment of Catherine Vautrin at the head of a super-ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity. Many fear the dilution of their subjects in too broad a scope.
The president of the CFTC Cyril Chabanier told AFP that he was “rather in favor of the formation of a tight and not bloated government” but also judged that “Labor and Health deserve two full ministries”.
Numerous negotiations in progress
“Work is a priority for the government and we have numerous negotiations in the pipeline which will keep us extremely busy,” underlined the union leader, assuring that he had no “a priori” about Catherine Vautrin with whom he has never exchanged, like most of the union officials interviewed by AFP.
“Let’s wait for the meetings to see things more clearly,” commented Marylise Léon (CFDT). “The gigantism does not impress me,” said his CFE-CGC counterpart François Hommeril, who also “does not know” Catherine Vautrin.
Questions
On the health side, Philippe Besset, pharmacist and president of the Liberal health union coalition, welcomed the return “to a large Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor like in the time of Xavier Bertrand or Martine Aubry, (…) who were great ministers, both for social and for health”.
But Agnès Giannotti, president of the main union of liberal general practitioners MG France, expressed her “questions”. “Is this appointment a sign that health is a very important subject deserving a major ministry, or is it a sign that it does not deserve a ministry in its own right? “, she asked herself.
A third position in the protocol order
For the president of the Avenir Spé union Patrick Gasser, with this large ministry, Health seems to “take second place” and “I do not believe that this is the image of audacity and transformation”.
Several union officials such as Jean-François Cibien, president of the Action Practitioners Hospital coalition (hospital doctors) or the president of the CSMF Franck Devulder welcomed the fact that Catherine Vautrin’s ministry comes in third position in the protocol order.
“But we are very impatiently awaiting the appointment of a Minister Delegate for Health,” indicated Jean-François Cibien. “If there is no emergency for the people who run us, we no longer know where to put the patients, some die on stretchers, and perhaps one day we will need a ministry of beds hospitalization,” said the emergency doctor.