SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou to Step Down Amid Controversy: What’s Next for the Railway Company?

2024-05-07 14:13:02

The manager has been in charge of the railway company since the end of 2019.

Published on 07/05/2024 12:03

Updated on 07/05/2024 16:13

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SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, on February 22, 2024, during a visit to Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Cruinéchan). (ADRIEN FILLON / HANS LUCAS / AFP)” width=”432″ height=”243″ sizes=”100vw”/>

The CEO of SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, on February 22, 2024, during a visit to Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Cruinéchan). (ADRIEN FILLON / HANS LUCAS / AFP)

SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou will not be reappointed for a second term at the head of the rail group but will continue his mission through the summer “to ensure the successful organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”, the government announced on Tuesday 7 May. After the competition, “the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Senate will inform the President of the Republic of the name of the intended successor of Jean-Pierre Farandou”who has chaired the group since 2019, the press release states.

This decision comes after the signing of an agreement regarding the termination of occupations at SNCF, which raised the anger of Bercy. The Ministry of Economy had summoned Jean-Pierre Farandou so that it would be “be accountable”. Signed on April 22 by the four representative unions of the SNCF, the text will allow railway workers to stop their activity before retirement, with more than a year without work and paid at 75% depending on the category, which has led to allegations of with the misappropriation of the pension reform implemented last year.

A “reasonable, fair and useful” agreement.

Heard in the Senate on Tuesday, a few hours after learning about his non-renewal, Jean-Pierre Farandou defended an agreement “reasonable, fair and useful”. “We cannot pit a public company of 150,000 railway workers with a strong domestic culture against its employees”, he emphasized. He also expressed some anger about the controversy that arose from this agreement sure that he kept the Ministry of Transport and Matignon informed of the progress of the exchanges, denying that he had conducted secret negotiations as he was accused.

Also, two major strikes commemorated his years at the head of the company, in 2019-2020 and 2023, each time to oppose the pension reform proposed by Emmanuel Macron’s government.

Jean-Pierre Farandou also brought the company’s accounts back into the green with a historic profit of 2.4 billion euros in 2022 and again 1.3 billion in 2023, making it possible to finance numerous investments, starting through the regeneration of the network and new purchases. trains such as the famous TGV M, which is expected for the second half of 2025.