CGPME elects new president

Download article in original language : FR0211101NFR.DOC

In the wake of the resignation of its president, Jacques Freidel in June 2002, France's CGPME small and medium-sized employers' organisation elected Jean-François Roubaud as its new president at its general assembly on 16 October 2002.

Since its president, Lucien Rebuffel, resigned in 2000 (FR0003145N), the General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confédération générale des petites et moyennes entreprises, CGPME) has been experiencing a crisis of identity and policy. Mr Rebuffel’s successor, Jacques Freidel, was seen as failing to provide a presence and a policy direction for the organisation to set it apart from the Movement of French Enterprises (Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF) , which has successfully overhauled its strategy, organisational structure and image over the past few years. Leadership problems and allegedly clumsy management hastened the resignation of Mr Freidel in June 2002, before the end of his full term (FR0207101N).

Jean-François Roubaud, a close associate of Mr Freidel and deputy vice-president, became acting president on Mr Freidel’s resignation. Mr Roubaud is 58 years old and head of a family company. He has long been active in the National Builders’ Federation (Fédération nationale du bâtiment, FNB), of which he chairs the Paris-Ile-de-France branch.

At the CGPME general assembly on 16 October 2002, Mr Roubaud ran in the election for president, along with Philippe Moreau, the head of the Loire-Atlantique (Nantes) branch of the CGPME. Mr Roubaud was elected for a two-year term, with 72% of the vote. A bitter internal campaign resulted in high voter turn-out within CGPME's various local and sectoral organisations.

In an attempt to smooth over the internal wrangling of the past few years, the head of the Isère branch of CGPME and of the Grenoble chamber of commerce, Roger Pellat-Finet – one of the staunchest opponents of former president Freidel - was elected deputy vice-president, taking over from Mr Roubaud.

The CGPME steering committee was due to meet on 20 November 2002. Mr Roubaud will introduce his new team and outline his main policies. He has already let it be known that he intends to 'assist the government', which has said that it wants to support small and medium-sized businesses. The new CGPME president has expressed his satisfaction at the proposals in the government's plan for small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr Roubaud has stated that CGPME - unlike MEDEF - intends to resume its position on the joint trade union-employer boards which run France's various social security funds. It had previously pulled out, together with MEDEF (FR0107167N), whereas the third main employers' organisation, the Craftwork Employers' Association (Union professionnelle artisanale, UPA), had opted to remain (FR0012109N).

CGPME would now like to participate more broadly in the social dialogue process and in talks on the government's planned changes (FR0208103F) to dismissals legislation and the previous government's 'social modernisation' law (FR0201102F).