What will they tell the Prime Minister behind closed doors in her office? From this Monday, party leaders, parliamentary groups and union officials will parade in front of Elisabeth Borne. An attempt at appeasement, while the protest against the pension reform continues – a new day of mobilization is scheduled for Thursday April 6, the 11th since March 8.
In the meantime, the Prime Minister is refining her strategy. Who risks banging their fist on the table? Who, on the contrary, will listen to his proposals? Elisabeth Borne must recruit volunteers in order to “enlarge the majority”. A mission from the President, who himself defended the use of 49.3 to pass his measures, and in particular the much-decried postponement of the retirement age to 64 years. But the process promises to be difficult.
What is Elisabeth Borne looking for?
To be successful in your interview, you have to identify your interlocutor. Find what he can let go. Difficult, with Elisabeth Borne. The Prime Minister and her colleagues refuse to make any changes. This text “is essential for our public accounts, for the pension system, for the future reforms that our country needs”, hammered in the Sunday newspaper the minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.
Still, some terms can still evolve, assures the majority. “The planned operational implementation of the law” involves “a lot of points of discussion and exchanges”, recalled the spokesman of the government, Olivier Véran, last Tuesday at the exit of the Council of Ministers. But is this really the objective of these meetings? For the opposition, the government is above all seeking to gain time while awaiting the decisions of the Constitutional Council on April 14. And the executive would bet in parallel, according to them, on the weariness of the demonstrators.
The left has chosen the boycott
Faced with the intransigence of the executive, which refuses to put the reform on hold, there are first those who will not come to the interview. The invitation was rejected by a large part of Nupes (EELV, PCF, LFI). “We will not enter into this anachronistic consultation”, repeated the patron saint of environmentalists, Marine Tondelier, guest Sunday of the Grand Jury RTL / LCI / Le Figaro. Same story with the Socialists. “We do not wish to participate in any consultation on the continuation of the parliamentary calendar […] before knowing the follow-up to your meeting with the inter-union scheduled for April 5”, write this Sunday Olivier Faure, Boris Vallaud and Patrick Kanner, leaders of the PS groups in the Assembly and the Senate, in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister.
The leader of the Insoumis, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also absent subscribers, regretted that the social partners did not opt for the boycott, like him. He called this Sunday on France 3 better “coordination” between political parties and trade unions to “throw all our forces” into the battle. And pleads for a committee of struggle, responsible for centralizing the dispute. Enough to carry out its own consultations.
At the initiative of the Communists, left-wing parliamentarians will gather this Tuesday in front of the Elysee Palace to deliver a letter to Emmanuel Macron.
LR, RN, LIOT at the rendezvous
Elisabeth Borne has a lot to do to try to restore calm with the right after a third of the Republican deputies voted for a motion of censure to overthrow her government. Representatives RN, LR and the independent group LIOT have however planned to meet the head of government. They might seek to negotiate, as not all are opposed to most government measures. Especially on the right.
Trade unions ? Speed dating format
The unions are threatening to slam the door, while blockages persist in certain refineries and a few thousand people demonstrated this Saturday in Vire (Calvados), where Elisabeth Borne was elected deputy during the last legislative elections.
If the Prime Minister refuses to talk about the 64 years, “we will leave”, warned the leader of the CFDT Laurent Berger. “It can last five minutes,” added the new boss of the CGT Sophie Binet. The meeting “is already written,” said a leading minister to AFP, who is counting on an impasse. The unions pass their interview on April 5. And plan to be on the street the next day.