The burning issue of this political return is the pension reform with the presentation of the text next week by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. The unions have already warned: they are ready to trigger large-scale social movements, but the battle will also be played out in Parliament.
The opposition awaits the government at the turn on the pension reform. It is the thorniest reform of the two five-year terms of the President Macron. A campaign promise that the Head of State wants to keep at all costs in the face of at best skeptical opposition, at worst fiercely opposed. “ You will have to work longer “, recalled the head of state during his wishes to the French on Saturday evening. “ With a gradual extension of our careers which will be done in stages over ten years “, adds Emmanuel Macron.
The main question that remains unanswered is how far the government will move the cursor: 64? 65 years ? The French will be fixed on Tuesday, January 10. But, whatever the age used in the final text, we already know that the whole left will be against it. The Socialist Party considers this reform ” unfair and brutal “. The Insoumis, through the voice of Mathilde Panot, the patroness of the group in the Assembly, warn that they will oppose it ” with all their might “. Opposition also from environmentalists. The government will not be able to count on the votes of the National Rally either. Marine Le Pen and her 88 deputies are against any general postponement of the legal retirement age.
Eyes on the Republicans
Nothing has yet been decided on the side of the Republicans who say they are waiting to read the final text to decide. But their vote will be crucial to pass this reform. It’s mathematical: the government will absolutely need the votes of the LR group. So the new party boss Eric Ciotti is negotiating with the government to impose his ideas in the final text. He saw Elisabeth Borne just before the holidays, he must see the Prime Minister again in the coming days. Except that before the Christmas truce, the Republicans had still not managed to agree among themselves.
Should we agree to go up to 65 years, as proposed by Valérie Pécresse during the presidential campaign, bet on 64 years, like what claims, every year in the Senate, Bruno Retaillleau. Another idea, that of the deputy Aurélien Pradié by playing only on the duration of contribution. The debate within the LRs themselves is lively. The latest news, the Republicans have set as a red line an extension of the retirement age to 65 years. But nothing is fixed. What is certain is that the Republicans, who have been in favor of pension reform for years, will stake their credibility on the position they adopt.
On the left, a return to all dangers
Insubordinate France ended 2022 in a storm. bogged down in business Adrien Quatennens, the new leadership of the party is criticized by activists. It pitches among the Insoumis and it is not much calmer among the Socialists, in the middle of a congress to appoint Olivier Faure’s successor. The PS is divided between the supporters of the outgoing first secretary, those of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and then those who have remained loyal to former President Hollande. The three camps do not have the same vision of the future.
The appointment of the new boss of the PS will take place at the end of the month. Will he or will she be able to bring the party together. It is the future of the PS which is at stake, but also that of Nupes. Some of the socialists reproach Olivier Faure for a submission to rebellious France in this alliance of the left. Hélène Geoffroy, candidate for the succession of Olivier Faure, wants to suspend the agreement in the event of victory. And Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, mayor of Rouen, sees the Nupes as a ” electoral agreement passed and losing “. If Olivier Faure is not re-elected, the Nupes as we know it may be living its last days.
►To listen also: Marine Tondelier (EELV): we will be “very mobilized” to roll back this pension reform