EDOUARD PHILIPPE REAFFIRMS DETERMINATION FACING SNCF STRIKE STILL IN PROGRESS

USPA NEWS - The SNCF strike resumed this Saturday night and will end Tuesday morning. Is it leaving for days of hardship for public transport users? We publish the second part of the entire interview of the French PM, Edouard Philippe by Le Parisien-Of Sunday, Led by Olivier Beaumont, Valérie Hacot, Muriel Pleynet, Vincent Verier and Henri Vernet Le Parisien SUNDAY, (New Format “France Dimanche) "Everyone must know our determination to go to the end," stated the French Prime Minister, no question of giving in to the strikers.

QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : Unsubstantial France wants it another May 1968?---------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : In any case, it has a clear action.----------------------------------------------------- QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : Are you worried that the movement in universities is gaining importance ? ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : You have to separate things. For example, in Paris Sorbonne, there must be 55,000 students. Some talk about blockages. It's true: in Clignancourt in musicology there are a number of students on strike. If we have 70 here, and 55,000 there, I want to say that the university is blocked, but it is also important to respect the orders of magnitude. We are vigilant, we stay tuned, when the presidents of universities seize us for interventions here and there, they take place. Here again, we are extremely determined not to allow an ultra-politicized and sometimes very violent minority to act. QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : There were violent incidents yesterday in Tolbiac: is there a risk of serious slippage? How are you going to act?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM :I obviously condemn all the violence and we will do what is necessary for the examinations to take place. I listen to students and their elected representatives who tell us they want simple things: to work and succeed. QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : Your mentor, Alain Juppé also went through troubled times in 1995 when he was in Matignon. He gives you advice?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM :INo. But we talk to each other regularly and I always have a lot of fun sharing with him. The movement of 1995 we discussed it together a long time ago. But the two situations are quite different, economically, politically and even on the substance of the reform. All that we are implementing was announced during the campaign, and today there is also a majority unit much stronger than at the time: in 1995 the presidential campaign (Editor's note: who has seen confront Edouard Balladur and Jacques Chirac) had left traces and divisions. Stephane Gatignon, the mayor of Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis) has just resigned. We feel up a real shambles in the elected suburbs ... I was mayor of a city, Le Havre, where there are difficult neighborhoods. I understand very well the expressions of fatigue, even despair of some elected officials. But we are moving forward on the subject. They have the impression that the government is not listening to them ... The task of reflection of Jean-Louis Borloo has the task of unblocking things. But we have already implemented mechanisms to revive the city's policy. For example, the duplication of CP classes in priority education networks specifically addresses these issues. In education, no measure has had the same impact in the past ten or fifteen years. The launch of free employment since 1 April provides targeted support to workers from the neighborhoods concerned to fight against house arrest. QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : What follow-up will you give to the Borloo mission? Some elected officials fear that it ends up in a drawer?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : I do not have a drawer!--------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : Gérard Larcher, the Senate Speaker, protests against the 30% reduction in the number of parliamentarians provided for by the constitutional reform. Does this surprise you?-------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : I can understand perfectly well that the Speaker of the Senate is reluctant to have fewer senators. It's human. It also reflects a certain form of conservatism ... But I just remember that at the time of the presidential election, the candidate supported by Gerard Larcher advocated a reduction in the number of parliamentarians to 400 deputies and 200 senators. François Fillon went well beyond what we propose ..." Source : Le Parisien- Du Dimanche

QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : So you will not move there either?---------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM :The reduction in the number of parliamentarians is a clear commitment of the President of the Republic, it is important to remember. In the Senate, there is the desire that there be at least one senator per department, it is legitimate. But we can also ask ourselves how do we elect senators ... QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : What would be the best system?------------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM :As soon as we put a series of topics on the table, the parliamentary debate can be very rich. QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : Are all the conditions in place for the evacuation of the zadistes of Notre-Dame-des-Landes to go well? ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM :This is a subject on which I am vigilant. Upon the announcement of the government's decision regarding Notre-Dame-des-Landes, I said that at the end of the winter break the illegal occupiers of parcels should have released them. The lands must return to their agricultural vocation. The illegal occupants who had an agricultural project - since the vocation of these lands must be agricultural - were invited to manifest themselves, to fit in the normal procedures. Those who place themselves in this context will have their place in the respect of the legal procedures. Anyone who does not register within the framework of the legality will have to leave the grounds quickly. QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : April 9 - tomorrow - as we hear?----------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : It will be in the coming days, but if you expect me to confirm the date of an operation you will be disappointed ... QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : We talk about you everywhere, to drive the list in the European elections, as a candidate for Paris, Bordeaux ... Rumors or test balloons?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : And why do not you quote Le Havre?----------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : Test balls, I can guarantee you no.------------------------------------------------- QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : How do you see after Matignon?----------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : Very good. Without any kind of anguish. I am passionate about what I do. Some have said that Matignon is a hell, it's a thought I do not understand. I am lucky and honored to be able to serve my country and transform it in a useful way, with an excellent relationship with the President of the Republic and a solid majority. It is essential. QUESTION BY LE PARISIEN DIMANCHE : One year after the election of Emmanuel Macron, what are the big projects to come?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSWER EDOUARD PHILIPPE, French PM : Multiple. We know them, there is no hidden agenda. A law of programming for the justice, a law of orientation on the mobilities, the constitutional revision, the transformation of the retreats ... The method is healthy, it is good, anyway it is ours and one will continue.Source : Le Parisien, Dimanche