Elisabeth Borne multiplies from Monday the meetings to try to “appease” the tensions, consultations boycotted by a large part of the left and which could turn into a dialogue of the deaf with the inter-union, given the inflexibility of the executive over the age of 64. After Emmanuel Macron entrusted her with the mission of “widening the majority”, the Prime Minister invited the leaders of parties and parliamentary groups to Matignon.
It must also receive employers’ organizations and trade unions on Wednesday, the eve of a new day of mobilization. This meeting, the first since the presentation of the pension reform on January 10, could be short-lived as the differences are strong. The executive remains intransigent on the postponement to 64 years of the legal age of departure, refusing to put on hold a “necessary” reform. 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, Gérald Darmanin.
The invitation launched by Matignon was rejected by the Nupes (EELV, PCF, LFI, PS). “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. The leader specifies that she will still go to meet Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday, but to “talk about maintaining order, the climate of violence against environmental activists and the necessary appeasement”.
The leader of the Insoumis, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, disappointed that the social partners agreed to go to Matignon contrary to his movement, called on France 3 for better “coordination” between political parties and unions to “throw all our forces” in battle. At the initiative of the Communists, left-wing parliamentarians will gather in front of the Elysée on Tuesday to deliver a letter to Emmanuel Macron.
Olivier Faure (PS) will go to Matignon, but “it is for the sole purpose of discussing the general situation of the country”. “We do not wish to participate in any consultation on the continuation of the parliamentary calendar (…) before knowing the follow-up given to your meeting with the inter-union scheduled for April 5 next”, wrote 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 unions will be present at the meeting scheduled for Wednesday at Matignon. However, they are already threatening to slam the door. 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”, believes a senior minister, who expects an impasse.
As for consultations with political leaders, the situation also remains very complicated. The Republicans will be present, but Elisabeth Borne will have a lot to do to convince them, while a third of the LR deputies voted for a motion of censure. Representatives of RN, LR and the independent group LIOT have planned to meet the head of government.
In another meeting, the employers’ unions will also be received: the Medef, the CPME (the confederation of SMEs) and the U2P (Union of local businesses). They will address the agreement on the sharing of value in business signed by four out of five unions and which the government has committed to transcribing into a legislative text.
If the government does not intend to reconsider the heart of its reform, discussions are still possible on its methods of implementation, before its entry into force scheduled for September. “The planned operational implementation of the law” involves “a lot of discussion points and exchanges”, government spokesman Olivier Véran recently recalled.
The executive hopes to be able to address other topics, such as career paths or the prevention of hardship during these meetings. In the boxes of the executive, there is also a new law on employment, which the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, wants to see debated in Parliament at least once “by the summer”.