The privatization of France Telecom continues to be the contentious issue in France following the Socialist-led coalition’s stunning victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election (CI No 3,174). The general-secretary of the pro-Socialist CFDT union, speaking on the radio, said the sale of the stake in France Telecom would not after all be incompatible with the carrier’s role as a public operator. What is at stake is giving guarantees of being a performing company on a French, European and international scale, and at the same time to guarantee its mission of public service. Only the day before yesterday the leader of the communist trade union CGT had told France Inter radio that the privatization of France Telecom had nothing to do with the need to develop the sector and that it would be bad news for the country’s assets.
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