” This time, no more procrastinating, exclaims Le Figaro. The government begins 2023 by tackling the final preparations for its pension reform. A major project of the five-year term, the arbitrations will be made public on January 10 by the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne. In the meantime, she will receive – accompanied by her Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt – the social partners this Tuesday and tomorrow Wednesday to ‘continue the dialogue’. »
Still, the unions remain headwind against this reform. Just like the French…” ‘The battle will be very tough for the government’, warned yesterday Frédéric Dabi, the general director of Opinion of the IFOP. Only 22% of French people support a legal retirement age set at 65, the initial cap set by Emmanuel Macron. Which is reminiscent of the fact that the biggest social movements that have paralyzed the country have often been linked to pensions, from 1995 to 2019 via 2010. (…) The government’s intentions are all the more perilous, point again Le Figaro, that they are part of a difficult economic context. The peak of inflation is expected in the first half of 2023 by the Banque de France. Increase in gas on January 1, increase in electricity on February 1 next… If wholesale prices are currently falling, households will not immediately see the color. Accentuating the risk of social anger although the price shield caps increases at 15%. ‘All that’s missing is a spark’, warns Frédéric Dabi. »
Will a spark be enough?
Exactly, ” fear of the spark “, spear The Parisian. ” We had forgotten them a bit, but they would like to talk about them again. A new call to demonstrate has been launched for next Saturday under the banner of yellow vests. The anger of the organizers can be summed up in five words ‘Pension – 49.3 – Inflation – Energy – Fuel’ and, as before, they are active on social networks to mobilize.
For the moment, the number of people showing interest in this day of action is very low compared to the great hours of the movement. And the last calls of the same type had flopped, the Yellow Vests being reduced to a handful. But the period is electric, as some pollsters have recently pointed out. ” And ” beyond what could happen on the pension reform, the government is attentive to all signs of tension, whatever the sector. To prevent the smoldering fire from waking up. »
And according to The echoes“ part of Emmanuel Macron’s entourage is worried. Not because she believes in the big union night. But because she fears the small fuse lit in a corner, which suddenly catalyses and leads, speaking to the guts of many. On retirement, a clumsy word, a personal situation that echoes… by definition, the blow will leave where we did not expect it. In recent days, a new news has emerged. That of companies that lower the curtain on energy prices, like William Saurin. Or like this baker from Oise who calls for mobilization after the jump of 12,000 euros in his electricity bill. A man who moves, in an activity that speaks to everyone: ‘It’s with a cry of alarm like this that everything can go away’, warns an adviser. »
China: disastrous management of the Covid pandemic
In the light of The cross : “ Beijing’s failure » ; the Catholic daily returns to the outbreak of Covid which is setting China ablaze and underlines that “ the Chinese regime’s failure to manage the pandemic is all the more obvious in that it has resorted to extreme means. The ‘zero Covid’ strategy was above all a policy of zero freedoms, combining repression, hyper-surveillance and disinformation. Locking up the sick – sometimes even walling them in! – only delayed the spread of the virus. Three years after the appearance of the latter, China has failed to develop an effective vaccine. All of this contradicts the propaganda of a regime that has long presented democracies as incapable of responding effectively to the challenge of Covid. »
Algeria: the repressive headlong rush of power
And then that rant World about the situation in Algeria…” The calamitous authoritarian escalation of the regime »: this is the title of the editorial of the evening daily. “ The recent arrest of journalist Ihsane El Kadi, director and founder of Radio M and the magazine ‘Maghreb Emergent’, illustrates a repressive flight from power, disastrous for the image of Algeria, valued The world. The admiration inspired by the spectacle of the peaceful and joyful crowds of the Hirak, which had radically renewed the outlook on Algeria, is no more than a shattered memory. It’s time for amazement, sigh again Le Monde, faced with the repressive headlong rush of a regime in full revenge after having feared for its survival. »