François Bayrou’s two new concessions to the PS – L’Express

Francois Bayrous two new concessions to the PS – LExpress

François Bayrou made two gestures this Wednesday, January 15, towards the socialists, promising to submit to Parliament an agreement, even partial, from the social partners on pensions, and renouncing the 4,000 job cuts in National Education. The first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure asked, in order not to vote on the motion of censure which will be examined on Thursday, that Parliament be seized, whatever the conclusions of the “conclave” of unions and employers scheduled for three months on the question pensions.

The Prime Minister responded in part to this request during questions to the government in the Assembly and then in his General Policy Declaration in the Senate. He mentioned three scenarios which could occur at the end of this “social conference” intended to revisit the contested reform of Élisabeth Borne. “Disagreement: we remain with the current text. Complete agreement: we create a legal text. Partial agreement: we translate the partial agreement into a text to improve our retirement system. This is the most straightforward route, the most transparent, the most honest that we could find on these subjects,” he detailed.

READ ALSO: Pensions, censorship and Jean-Luc Mélenchon: faced with François Bayrou, the socialists trapped

But he was met with rejection. “The account is not there,” replied Patrick Kanner, leader of the PS senators. “Your speech does not allow us to have a clear vision of the general balance of your budget,” he added, saying he was “worried” to “discover the subjects on which you will make new savings”. And even “in the event that the conditions are met for us not to censor your government, we will not sign you a blank check,” he warned. The Prime Minister responded a few moments later by adding an additional gesture: renouncing the 4,000 job cuts planned in Education by the previous government.

No decision taken by the PS for the moment

The 66 PS deputies met on Wednesday to decide on their position on the motion of censure tabled by their left-wing allies, LFI in the lead, which was joined by the Communists and the Environmentalists. At the end of the meeting, however, no decision had been made. “The authorities of the Socialist Party and the group in the Assembly will meet before the censure debate,” the party leadership told AFP on Wednesday evening.

If the PS chose to vote for censure on Thursday afternoon, the government would not fall, because the National Rally (RN) has decided not to join in. The Prime Minister, who had dampened the hopes of the Socialists the day before by suggesting that without an agreement between the social partners, the Borne law would continue to apply, reiterated to the Senate his “confidence in the fact that all the social partners have the wish, the desire, the will that progress be found”.

READ ALSO: François Bayrou: where does patience end, where does immobility begin?

Discussions still need to start. After contradictory signals, the first meeting of the promised “conclave” in the presence of the Prime Minister should take place on Friday at 11:00 a.m. The head of government has marked out the path in his general policy declaration: first a “flash mission” of the Court of Auditors to work on “indisputable figures”, then a quarter of negotiation “without any totem (nor) taboo” even on the 64 years, subject to not “degrading the financial balance” of the system of retirements.

“Quacks”

“What François Bayrou is proposing is a comedy” and “there is a possibility that he will leave very quickly,” denounced the head of LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, calling on the PS, which continues to negotiate with the government, to “come back to reason.” The executive’s supporters do not shine with their cohesion either. The strong man of the Republicans, Laurent Wauquiez, estimated that Mr. Bayrou’s project “remains very vague”, despite “good intentions”. Inaccuracies, however, were excused by the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who affirmed that “making a catalog of precise measures would be doomed to failure”.

READ ALSO: “The National Assembly has changed a lot”: François Bayrou facing a new type of deputies

Even at MoDem, François Bayrou’s party, the head of deputies Marc Fesneau admitted on France Inter that the Prime Minister’s speech “can give the feeling of being too generalized”. But, “the important thing is to try to find a method”. All under the supervision of Emmanuel Macron, who received the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher on Wednesday, after Yaël Braun-Pivet the day before. And if possible by avoiding hiccups, like that of the Minister of Regional Planning François Rebsamen assuming Tuesday evening to “respect all political forces except the RN”. An “insult” immediately noted by the president of the far-right party Jordan Bardella. The minister’s statement “is not the government’s position”, said Sophie Primas.

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