The leaders of the Les Républicains (LR) party smiled on the Matignon steps. After an interview with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne on Thursday, Éric Ciotti, Bruno Retailleau and Olivier Marleix all claimed a “success” of their training on government pension reform.
“The President of the Government has confirmed that there will be an increase in small pensions for 1.8 million retirees”, greeted the new president of LR. It was a condition of the right to grant his support to the relative majority on this text. This is not the only one to which Élisabeth Borne responded.
“The foundations of an agreement are laid”
When he unveiled the outlines of the reform on Tuesday, the dikes that separate the majority of LR fell one by one: postponement of the legal age to 64 and not 65 as the president initially wanted, revaluation of small pensions, even for current retirees, consideration of parental leave, etc.
“This reform takes up the proposals of the Republicans,” Olivier Marleix, head of the LR deputies, boasted this Friday in Europe 1.
There are still some details to settle, yes, such as the amount of current retirement pensions -Elisabeth Borne did not specify, indicating only that it would be 1,200 euros for future retirees-, but nothing insurmountable.
“Good shot”
“The foundations have been laid for an agreement,” declared Bruno Retailleau, leader of the right-wing senators. All the more, he stressed, since the government’s text takes up “the architecture of the amendment that we vote for every year” in the Senate. This is the challenge of the right: to assert its claw on this text.
On BFMTV, our political columnist Matthieu Croissandeau hailed a “good move”, especially in view of the last few months for the party founded by Nicolas Sarkozy.
LR “was on the street, withered after Valérie Pécresse’s score in the presidential election, also withered by the tragic score of its legislative candidates”; he remembered.
From now on, “here they are in the center of the game.” However, the LR deputies have not fully tuned their violins in this text. Some, including Aurélien Pradié, are raising the stakes. Following Elisabeth Borne’s announcements, Lot’s deputy claimed his “red lines”, particularly on long runs.
“Presidential Camp Supplements”
“Those who worked before the age of 21, and in particular at 20, will be the biggest losers of this reform,” he said this week on Sud Radio, considering that for them “there is nothing, except the prospect of having to work one or two more years.”
Present at LCP two days earlier, the one who became a singer for a “social” and “popular” right, however, wanted to reassure, explaining that he and Éric Ciotti have “a vision that can be united.”
Even so, an agreement between LR deputies would not fix everything. There is a risk for right-wing deputies, analyzes Matthieu Croissandeau. That of becoming “auxiliaries of the presidential camp.” “Yes, they can influence the vote, but they can also gradually lose their identity,” he explains.
Source: BFM TV
