The parliamentarians gave a favorable opinion, in committee, to the accession of the former Prime Minister to the CEO of the Régie, on the eve of a strike.
Le Monde with AFP
“Respond to the expectations of users”: this will be the first priority of Jean Castex, who has just obtained the approval of the competent commissions of the National Assembly and the Senate to his appointment at the head of the RATP. Heard Tuesday evening by the members of the Senate Planning Commission then, Wednesday morning, by those of the Assembly Sustainable Development Committee, the former Prime Minister collected, in total, 52 votes for and 27 Against his appointment to the CEO of the Régie. This must now be confirmed in the Council of Ministers.
“My priority of priorities is the core business, and the core business, is to meet the expectations of users” in Ile-de-France where the RATP is currently struggling to circulate its properly bus and its metros, he said. The first difficulty, “absolute emergency”, “is that of continuity and quality of service,” he admitted. The fault of a shortage of drivers due to recruitment difficulties and strong absenteeism. He gave himself three weeks to establish a “shared diagnosis” and “find additional tools” to restore the situation, with an “stake of quality of life at work”. Mr. Castex intends in particular to increase human presence in contact with travelers, and to “humanize as much as possible [the] service”.
Regarding wages, he intends to anticipate the opening of compulsory annual negotiations (NAO) with unions as soon as he took office. The agents have already benefited from an average increase of 5.2 % of the remuneration this year, he noticed on the eve of a strike which promised to be very followed. More generally, the priorities of the next RATP boss will be punctuality, regularity, cleanliness, security, the fight against fraud, the quality of information given to travelers and the modernization of “ticketing”. The credo of the former Prime Minister will be “listening, consultation, proximity”.
speak to Christophe Béchu
Jean Castex intends in particular to do “a very precise inventory of what works [and] of what does not work” with Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the Regional Transport Authority presided over by Valérie Pécresse. Among the “difficulties” that await the future CEO of the RATP, proposed by Emmanuel Macron, Mr. Castex also cited the flight of the electricity bill, which should go from 210 million euros last year to around 265 million this year and reach between 480 and 550 million next year. “We will have to see (…) what solutions can be found with IDFM and with the State,” he noted.
In this regard, Mr. Castex said that he would speak of competition in the government with the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, since the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life prohibited him from approaching this question particular with ministers who sat in his government, which was not the case of Mr. Béchu.
As for the important development of RATP subsidiaries, outside Ile-de-France and in new sectors, in recent years, Mr. Castex is less enthusiastic. “The diversification of activities is important, it makes sense, but in no way should it divert us from our primary and fundamental mission,” he noted. Clearly: the priority is now to operate the RATP in Ile-de-France and the Régie should “refocus” its action outside its historical field, for example by focusing on automatic metros, according to him.
Jean Castex, who has been president of the France Transport Infrastructure (AFIT) since August 18, which is to “want to” be useful for the nation “. “I am not trying to be repeated. (…) When you want to rehake friends, it is rather in sinécures. I am not sure that it is the case,” he said, recalling that he is passionate about transport and that he had been a candidate in 2019 to direct the SNCF. “There is no shortage of challenges and it motivates me a lot.” And if he no longer wants to do politics, Mr. Castex insisted on the need to invest in public transport.
