After a legislative journey of four months and an equally long challenge, the entry into force of the pension reform leaves a bitter taste for Emmanuel Macron.
A mea-culpa on the form, not the substance. But above all, a sentence that says a lot. Emmanuel Macron admitted to readers of the Parisian that he had not “wet” enough on the pension reform. “Perhaps the mistake was not to be present enough to give consistency and carry out this reform myself”, he conceded in front of this ten French people. A seemingly innocuous sentence but which can be perceived as a remonstrance against its Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne. During his interview on TF1 and France 2 on March 22, the President of the Republic had already said that he regretted “not having succeeded in convincing people of the need for this reform.”
“She does her job well”, but…
This time, the Head of State went further in his introspection on the way in which this reform was carried out, seeming to scratch his head of government. In his eyes, “the first element that did not work is that we did not install the idea that there was a need to make this reform.” If he does not directly implicate the tenant of Matignon, it is to his former Minister of Transport that the President had entrusted the task of carrying out this bill and finding a majority in the National Assembly to make adopt the text. But the Prime Minister has never managed to stimulate a dynamic around this law, between the totem of 64 years, the quack on the 1200 euros minimum pension and the noise of social protest. Conclusion: the French people reject the reform en masse and the vote did not take place at the Palais Bourbon, 49.3 having been taken.
However, in his words, Emmanuel Macron suggests that if he had become more publicly involved in the case, the case would have been handled differently. Does this mean that he questions Elisabeth Borne in her function? Publicly, especially not. It’s even the opposite: “She has my confidence, she is doing her job well in a difficult time for the country.” However, he remained vague on the management of the reform by the Macronist ministers, deputies and senators: “[Le Président] sets the course, then the government and Parliament have done their job.” Good? That’s the whole point.
Emmanuel Macron remained evasive, once again acknowledging that he had “not expressed himself too much.” Before adding: “There were communication errors, things that were not clear. And presto! It gets infected right away, it gets out of hand. And, suddenly, it erodes trust. Is What could we have done better? Yes.” As a reminder shot to Elisabeth Borne but also all the ministers. If the Prime Minister cannot control all the statements of the executive, she still remains the head of a government supposed to support and implement the policy of the Head of State. It’s up to her to hold the troops.