ABSTRACT
For the last twenty-five years, successive French governments have been interested in reforming the state. However, the political will to modernize the public service has been accelerating since 2008, a trend further strengthened by the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone. While the objective of modernization policies has been twofold from the outset-improving the quality and efficiency of public services and curbing public spending-the latter objective has been a priority since 2010. All public officials are certain that modernization can only be achieved through social dialogue and employees’ agreeing to state reforms. It might also be because unions have been a key, hence unavoidable, force in public services: until recently, few reforms have been implemented through frontal attacks on trade unions.
