Without La France insoumise, remaining on the sidelines, the socialists, ecologists and communists participated on the evening of Wednesday January 8 in a new meeting in Bercy, not “conclusive” at this stage. “There is absolutely, at this stage, nothing conclusive,” declared the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure at the end of this meeting which ended shortly after 11:00 p.m. at the microphone of BFMTV. “Nothing is finished and it’s a real negotiation.” “We will continue to defend our positions, but for there to be no censorship, that presupposes that there is a strong change in the policy that has been pursued so far,” he added. “We will continue to work hard.”
The PCF and the environmental delegation had already been received in the afternoon by the Ministers of the Economy Eric Lombard and of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin, for a meeting as part of the meetings organized by Bercy with the parties represented at Parliament between now and François Bayrou’s general policy speech on January 14. The socialists were there on Monday.
“The discussions were limited to non-divisive subjects. The central question of pensions, tax justice and the civil service were postponed until later”, assured AFP a socialist, mentioning however a “useful meeting and constructive” with “the three left-wing parties […] around the table and aligned”. On the environmentalist side, we note that “there is still a lot of work to do to avoid censorship”.
Pensions at the heart of the negotiations
Earlier on Wednesday, the communist delegation had indicated that it wanted to put the repeal of the pension reform “at the head of the gondola” of its demands, “in any case finding a way to suspend the age measurement”, explained the national secretary. of the PCF Fabien Roussel. “Today, it’s not yes, it’s not no, it’s under discussion,” he noted, indicating the intention to “set foot” in “this half-open door.”
The question of pensions and the controversial postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 is central for the left. Monday, after receiving the socialist delegation led by Olivier Faure, the president of the socialist group in the Senate Patrick Kanner welcomed “a proposal for modification, development of the retirement reform” made by Amélie de Montchalin , but without specifying which one. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister indicated to the number one of the CFDT Marylise Léon – whom he received at Matignon – that he had “no taboo” on all subjects linked to pensions”, “including on the legal age”, the union official reported.
The left-wing parties received at Bercy since Monday have praised, more or less explicitly, the ministers’ quality of listening. “In terms of method, things are happening that have never happened in France […] In exceptional circumstances, exceptional solutions,” said Marine Tondelier.
“Forfeiture”
LFI was largely absent from the Wednesday evening meeting. Questioned on this subject, Marine Tondelier noted that the LFI president of the Finance Commission of the National Assembly, Eric Coquerel, would nevertheless be received, alone, on Thursday. “If there was a complete and very strict boycott as they know how to organize it, it would not come tomorrow,” she slipped, observing that rebellious France had wanted “meetings after the policy debate general”: “in the political situation we are in, we see that the lines, the attitudes are moving, everyone wants to find solutions”, according to her.
The leader of the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon nonetheless castigated on Wednesday evening the “offender” against the alliance of the New Popular Front and the “servility” of the socialist, environmentalist and communist representatives. “This way of negotiating behind the back of the NFP and against its program is a total disrespect for our alliance,” he wrote in a message on and his negotiators are just ridiculously servile.” “No agreement on non-censorship of the PS and EELV will ever concern us,” he insisted again.
“If you vote for the budget you are supporting the government,” argued LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard at the same time. “I am starting to feel the return of popular detestation of the PS at a post-Hollande level. Olivier Faure was lucky to have Nupes, it allowed the PS to return to demonstrations. Be careful, I warn them , the whistles could come back sooner than expected,” he said to a few journalists, on the sidelines of a meeting of MP Louis Boyard.