Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux is president of Virgin Mobile and vice president of UNEDIC.
LE FIGARO .- Do you sell Virgin Mobile Free when preparing his arrival in the mobile phone?
Geoffroy Roux de B?zieux .- I have no plans to sell as we are growing, we will invest 20 million in strengthening our systems for longer battery life, we derive the first profit in five years' investments with a positive operating result and more than 400 million turnover this year. There will probably be in the coming years a recomposition of capital. I hold 5% and I can go up to 13.5%. Virgin Mobile could also go public. This would enable our two shareholders (Virgin and Carphone Warehouse) to go out and bring a new industry partner.
There is talk of a forthcoming project "revolutionary" at Virgin Mobile.What is it?
It is too early to say but it is a major initiative around the dissemination of audiovisual content on mobile. With the development of mobile Internet, network saturation is the challenge of tomorrow. We must find a solution for segmenting purposes.
How would you assess the work of Laurence Parisot, who is seeking a second term as head of MEDEF?
There were good things: the relaxation of relations with the social partners or the creation of conventional breach. But the crisis has caused a resurgence of government intervention. I'm not sure he has to decide everything from industrial sectors of future business to save or let go.Please do not recreate the Commissariat au Plan! In this context, we can not just repeat "we want less government" or "Companies need air …" The speech "all-deregulation" is no longer convincing: the state has an essential role oversee the finance, competition, trade relations … But it remains poor manager and poor tactician. It bosses to offer a vision of the role of civil society and social partners, and demonstrate that we can be a power-cons. Laurence Parisot has not expressed this vision so far. Now is a crucial time for three years coequality only yield ground in the training, the 1% housing, employment center …
Do you fear, as the UIMM (metal), that management is "threatened with extinction in the public debate and action?
Disappearance, no, inward-looking, yes.The crisis, combined with our internal problems, has revived tensions: between small and large businesses, services and industry, banks and SMEs, elected and permanent … There is a danger that everyone is more concerned with his personal lobbying of the interest. We hear too of discordant voices. Our concern must be the unit of employers for bad credit payday loans. I remain convinced that what unites us is stronger than what divides us.
So you introduce yourself to the presidency of Medef?
I decided not to run. First President of the MEDEF requires 3 or 4 days per week, which would not leave me enough time for Virgin Mobile. On the other hand, I chose the unit of employers and a strong MEDEF. In recent weeks I have met many entrepreneurs.Some urged me to go, and many others want a debate on the issues of employers without publicly display our divisions. For some wounds have not healed. I do not want to add to current tensions already high. This reasoning applies to me as for any other candidate.
You spend your turn to try your luck in 2013?
It is too early to say whether I will be a candidate! The bosses can be learned and I have time. I'll stay here by a contractor hired through my assignments with the MEDEF, keeping my freedom of speech.
You are the vice-president of employment center. What is your assessment of fusion ANPE-Assedic?
The whole has not experienced a major failure, especially in the payment of compensation. Given the timing of forced marches and the crisis that no one had imagined, this is not so bad.But the merger has cost hundreds of millions and has not improved the service to job seekers and businesses, except that they no longer have to go in 2 separate locations.
How better?
The social partners should consider simplifying the compensation grids. This would help counselors to be more versatile and to focus on supporting the job search. It was also wrong to want to put job seekers in boxes according to their status (retrenched and entrepreneur …) rather than according to their distance from employment. Although they were both dismissed from Continental, the tire factory worker who for 30 years requires more monitoring than the young computer specialist who find a job alone, via the Internet. Finally, geographical mobility is very low, when we know that in some employment areas unemployment is 5% and others 14%.We can do much more on aid to move.
Unedic fund she measures for the unemployed at the end of rights?
We will make a gesture if the state is one. But a reasonable gesture: we have an accumulated deficit of nearly 10 billion euros at end 2010. We managed to borrow 4 billion in the fall to an exceptional rate of 2.23% but the situation has changed and we will not have the same conditions this summer when we will raise about 2 billion.
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