Argument over La Poste public vote
Unions claim two million voted against privatisation - but government says vote was misleading and has no legal value
THE GOVERNMENT has dismissed the results of an unofficial consultation on the future of La Poste in which it is claimed more than two million people voted.
Government spokesman Luc Chatel said the ballot, which was organised by postal unions and opponents from left-wing parties, was misleading, lacked transparency and has no legal value at all.
According to the organisers of the “citizen vote”, 2.12 million people took part over the weekend and 98.5% were against privatising the post office.
The consultation asked one question: “The government wants to change the post office’s legal status in order to privatise it. Do you agree?”
A new law is to be created aimed at making La Poste, now officially a public body, into a société anonyme (PLC) by the start of next year.
Although the government says the state would remain the only shareholder, the unions think that might not continue to be the case.
They also believe the new status could lead to changes in their contracts, staff cuts, changes to distribution and the price of stamps.
The government says the change in La Poste’s status is needed for modernising – it would allow extra sources of funding. The EU requires it in preparation for the opening up of the European postal market in January 2011.
Chatel said: “Clearly the vote was not completely transparent. Making people believe that we want to privatise the Post Office is absolutely false.
“The government does not want to privatise the Post Office – it wants to recapitalise it so that it can play an important role in the European postal market of the future.”
Opposition MPs have urged the government to call an official referendum on its plans.
Under the French constitution, a referendum needs the support of 10% of voters – about 4.5 million people – to go ahead.
Socialist MP and former prime minister Laurent Fabius said this percentage was too high and his party would put forward a bill on October 15 calling for an official public vote to be held anyway.
