The former President of the Republic François Hollande spoke this Sunday on the set of “BFM Politique” about the current social crisis, marked by strong opposition to the pension reform. He considered that the current government “probably” has multiplied the “mistakes.”
“There has definitely been a backlog of bugs,” he told BFMTV.
“In many categories of the population there is that same anger, that feeling that democracy does not work as it should,” he developed, also evoking the lack of “dialogue” and a feeling of “injustice.” “That’s a lot,” she says.
Emmanuel Macron “exacerbated” tensions
Among the mistakes made, François Hollande regrets first of all that “a pension reform was decided at the worst moment (…) in a context of high inflation, necessarily amputated purchasing power and concern because there is a war in Ukraine” . .
“Second error: a content error. When you propose a pension reform that requires effort from those who worked hard and early and nothing from those with higher incomes, it is also a mistake”, he estimated then.
The former head of state then denounced an “error of method.” He regrets that Emmanuel Macron started his discussions with LR instead of the unions.
Then, he points out a “procedural error” by the executive that began the reform via a Social Security financing law and “ended when (he) had claimed the opposite with 49.3”,
Finally, he mentions a “communication error”. “We were waiting for the President of the Republic on Tuesday to calm the situation and he aggravated it with more unpleasant words for the CFDT leaders.”
“A level of anger that I have rarely experienced”
“There have been crises in recent years,” he admitted despite everything, sometimes linked to “misunderstood reforms.”
The socialist, however, claims to have the impression that the current social climate is marked by a “level of anger and resentment that has rarely been known.”
Comments regarding the pension reform, one of the key measures of which is the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, and the use of article 49.3 by the Government to approve the reform without a vote in Parliament .
The executive was threatened with a motion of no confidence, rejected by 9 votes. The former President of the Republic himself had led a reform of the pension system in 2014.
Source: BFM TV
