The priest. In the corridors of government, languages are loosening after the weekend fiasco on bereavement leave. The target: Muriel Pénicaud, crucified for having cruelly lacked political sense in the Assembly, where the majority postponed on January 30 the extension from five to twelve days of the leave granted to parents who have lost a child. "Pénicaud was the revelation of 2017, today it is disappointment", pings a ministerial adviser under the guise of "off". "She does anything!" It is ch… the whole world! Another strangles, pinning "a major human and political fault".
Even more virulent, LREM deputies squarely claim his head. "You have to blow it up!" It is a nightmare of amateurism, disconnection and technocracy, a summary of all the criticisms since the beginning of the five-year term, "grabs a walker in sight, who notes that the minister had" already blundered "in September on tax rebates seniors.
"It's the false ass ball"
Pénicaud, easy scapegoat for a collective failure? "She has a broad back," squeaks one of her supporters in the majority, not surprised by the billiard game with five bands of certain ministers, who are already speculating on a possible reshuffle in June or July, once the pension reform voted. “Some are on the move. It is the ball of the false asses, curls the same.
According to our information, Emmanuel Macron did in fact sent his minister text messages of support on Saturday, after his exit from the canon calling on the government to "more humanity". His right arm at the Elysée Palace, Alexis Kohler, had moreover taken care to call Pénicaud to warn him that the president was going to take out the sulfator and allow him to prepare. As for Edouard Philippe, he called her this Sunday to comfort her. "Full support," confirms Matignon. We have a collective miss and we have to take our loss. "The tackle of the president also targeted Edouard Philippe ..." decrypts a ministerial source.
In fact, the text debated in the Assembly on bereavement leave had been the subject of an interministerial meeting in Matignon on January 17 at 10:30 am, a "RIM" as they say in government jargon. No less than seven ministries were convened, and not only that of Labor. "The ministers concerned could not therefore not know, since their technicians were aware," scolds a close friend of Pénicaud.
To his credit, the good figures on employment
The executive therefore launches the operation "save Private Pénicaud". This Tuesday, the Prime Minister will accompany him before the LREM group of the Assembly, where she will detail his measures: bereavement leave increased to 12 days, with the possibility for employees to give RTT to a colleague who has lost a child, as well as psychological support. It is also Pénicaud who will answer any questions in the hemicycle, where Edouard Philippe had harshly chaired it in September. Finally, she will receive parents' associations on Tuesday with her colleague Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State responsible for child protection, then the social partners on Wednesday, including employers.
In the medium term, Pénicaud intends to bounce back by promoting its results, which can boast of the biggest drop in unemployment since the 2008 crisis. It also promises "historic" figures on learning on Tuesday. In a small committee, when asked if she receives a lot of messages of support in the face of this happy news, the Minister confides in a breath: "Not much". Don't be fooled.
