A surprise report. Emmanuel Macron announced this Monday morning that the precise terms of the pension reform would not finally be released this Thursday as planned but on January 10. What, the executive hopes, breathe in the coming weeks.
“We are going to have a few more weeks so that those (…) who have just assumed responsibilities can, on some key elements of the reform, discuss with the government,” the president justified.
Reasons for postponement still “long planned”
Saturday and Sunday were dotted with political congresses with the election of Éric Ciotti at the head of the Republicans, Marine Tondelier for Europe-Écologie-Les-Verts or Hervé Marseille for the UDI. Elisabeth Borne has also been in charge of congratulating them individually.
Another explanation given for the postponement of the announcements regarding the extension of the retirement age to 65 years: the elections in the civil service that “prevented certain discussions with the unions.” But these arguments leave Matthieu Croissandeau, a political columnist for BFMTV, skeptical.
“All these elections were planned for a long time and that did not seem to make the president hesitate. He was even considering a hussar reform at the beginning of the school year, ”the journalist deciphers.
Oppositions and skeptical unions
Suffice it to say that this postponement has all the tactical withdrawal with one objective: to hope to still move the social partners and the oppositions in some measures such as long or arduous races. The calculation does not seem for the moment to convince the opposition.
“At the moment I feel this as an alibi for the hesitation, more than a concern for the negotiation”, thus judged Éric Ciotti.
The same story on the side of the unions that do not believe that new discussions will really change the content of the reform. The CFDT was “against the postponement of the age of majority on December 15, it will continue to be against January 10,” said Laurent Berger, the head of the central union who, however, seems to be the most reformist.
“Not a good subject around the Christmas table”
Another objective of Emmanuel Macron’s announcement: the hope that the social context will be better in mid-January. Nothing is less certain as gas and electricity prices will rise 15% next January, power outages could occur and food price inflation should rise further.
“After the big change of the power cuts, the probable train strike, it was not necessarily a good idea to add this theme to the Christmas table”, advances Matthieu Croissandeau.
The tempo with the World Cup soccer semifinal that will face Morocco against France this Wednesday also seemed poorly chosen. There is no doubt that the executive will deprive himself of a few days of joy in the event of qualifying for the final or even victory. Especially since if the Blues got rid of the Moroccans, it would be up to the president to sandwich the presentation of this reform between two round trips to Qatar.
The French massively oppose the reform
But the calculation seems high risk for Emmanuel Macron.
“While the French are already opposed to 65 years, the announcement of new rounds of tables testifies to a reform not yet tied and badly tied”, judges Matthieu Croissandeau.
According to an Elabe survey for BFMTV, 46% of respondents want to keep the legal retirement age at 62, 33% prefer to lower it. However, they are only a minority (21%) who want to increase it.
Source: BFM TV
