Employees of the international channel Euronews, whose future is under negotiation after the announcement in March of the abolition of nearly 200 jobs in Lyon, called on Tuesday, May 9, Europe Day, for support from the heads of state and EU leaders.
“Today the idea is to challenge not so much the management as the elected officials, the European heads of state, the European authorities, at the origin of the Euronews project thirty years ago”, explained in front of some journalists Marie Jamet, elected SNJ from staff. "We are the oldest European information media and the European Commission must take care of our fate", she insists, stressing that for the moment the few contacts had mainly taken place with local elected officials and MEPs.
Launched in 1993 by around twenty European channels, Euronews passed in the summer of 2022 under the control of the investment fund Alpac Capital, based in Portugal. The channel faces approximately 160 million losses in ten years and for the year 2021 alone a net result of -20 million euros (Satellifacts, February 2).
While a job preservation plan is being negotiated, employees feel forgotten. About 60 of them gathered at midday on Tuesday at the entrance to the headquarters, unfurling a long black banner on which was written “Mayday”. A clarinettist played the Hymn to Joy, punctuated by a concert of pans. "When we remind them [the European leaders, editor's note] of the commitment of their predecessors, there is no one on the other end of the line," lamented Alexis Caraco, CGT union representative.
Euronews plans to cut nearly 200 jobs out of around 500 at its Lyon headquarters, with redeployment in several European capitals planned in its new strategic guidelines. “The negotiations are following their course and are not going very well,” reported Marie Jamet. "We do not despair of changing the project," she added. Tuesday was held a CSE for the presentation of the report of the experts on the strategic orientations. Another report is planned on the social plan.