A stone in the pond to prevent further dissolution. Élisabeth Borne, who carried out the pension reform when she was in office in Matignon, proposed this Tuesday afternoon in the columns of Le Parisien to suspend the increase in the age to 64 years. The gesture, demanded for months by the left, could push the socialists to finally side with the head of state and reach an agreement with a view to the budget.
The Renaissance deputies would still have to agree. And it is evident that things are very stagnant, as demonstrated by the exchanges on the Telegram loop that brings together the elected Macronist representatives of the Assembly. The latter, revealed by Le Figaro and confirmed by BFMTV.com, show that the former Prime Minister’s proposal is strongly dividing internally.
“Put two knees on the ground.”
“Is it up to us to waste our own inheritance?” writes MP Maud Bregeon. “Compromise does not mean kneeling for fear of dissolution,” the former spokesperson for Michel Barnier’s government continues to annoy her colleagues.
“I am surprised that a large part of the political class is willing (…) to consciously ruin our pay-as-you-go pension plan,” explains one of his colleagues, Charles Rodwell, a close friend of Gérald Darmanin.
The former Minister of Culture, Franck Riester, is much more tender on Telegram and denounces “counterproductive comments.”
“Courage” by Élisabeth Borne
Faced with its critics, often coming from deputies who began their careers on the right, we find elected officials from the left wing of the party who support Élisabeth Borne’s initiative.
“There will be nothing left” of our heritage “if we lose this last opportunity for commitment before dissolution,” says deputy Céline Calvez about this loop.
The former Prime Minister “shows great courage and shows that everyone can and must make an effort to get out of the impasse in which we find ourselves,” the former Minister of Agriculture, Stéphane Travert, answers us directly.
“It is not about repealing the reform”, but rather about demonstrating that “our door is open”, adds Agnès Pannier-Runacher, resigned Minister of Ecological Transition, about LCI. “We cannot do without the left,” he still insists.
A reform that returns like a boomerang
These friendly exchanges have the merit of reminding us that by strongly adopting pension reform, the presidential camp never really resolved the question of the retirement age.
And with good reason: despite a very strong mobilization in the streets, a very strong opposition from the unions and a part of the chamber with strong winds, the government did not hesitate to get the 49.3, this institutional cartridge that allows a bill to be approved without a vote.
Since then, the socialists have continued to call for its suspension while the rebels demand its repeal. Rare achievement of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term: the president has so far never agreed to return. Also proof that the Head of State has little taste for Élisabeth Borne’s proposal, the Elysée made it known that her speech had not been “agreed upon with the president.”
big blur
François Bayrou, however, ventured into this area by organizing a conclave last January to reopen the debate on pensions and in the process concluding a non-censorship agreement with the socialists. But very quickly, the then Prime Minister declared that “no”, that he did not believe it was possible to retire again at 62 years old.
Could Sébastien Lecornu really explain this Wednesday afternoon, during his speech on France 2, that he is suspending the reform? For the moment, the resigned Matignon tenant has refrained from giving more details. During a surprise speech Wednesday morning, he didn’t say a word about it. During the process, the leader met with the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure.
“Evidently we talked” about pensions, he explained as he left the meeting, although he assured “that we have no certainty about the reality of this suspension.” Specifically, the socialists ask to “freeze the legal age” (currently 62 years and 9 months pending the full progress of the reform with the benefit of an additional quarter per year until 2032 and 64 years).
A high cost
And if Sébastien Lecornu agrees, he risks losing, on the one hand, what he has gained, on the other. The suspension is, in fact, “a red line” for the right, as Bruno Retailleau has explained on several occasions.
As for Horizons, Édouard Philippe’s party is totally opposed to it. And Marine Le Pen and her 122 deputies? It’s hard to say. “I am happy with this suspension if it occurs,” said the president of the RN elected in the Assembly, while promising to “censor” any future government.
Last question, far from being secondary: the cost of suspending the reform in a very tense budgetary context. In spring, the Court of Auditors estimated in a report that stopping at the age of 63 “would have a total cost of 13 billion euros for public finances for the financial year 2035.” The figure is certainly important, but there are still more than ten years to find financing levers, as this work by the Cambon street magistrates clearly indicates.
Source: BFM TV
