Dialogue, finally? The unions, determined to talk about pensions, are expected next week at Matignon, before a day of mobilization on April 6 and while the Constitutional Council will decide on the reform on April 14.

In the aftermath of a 10th day of action less extensive and also less chaotic than expected, unions and the executive give themselves a little air to ease the tension with the prospect of this unprecedented meeting for weeks, while the conflict in the street has entered its third month.

From there to consider a way out of the crisis? There is a long way to go and the inter-union has planned an 11th day of action on April 6.

The Constitutional Council will make its decisions on the controversial reform on Friday April 14, “at the end of the day”, he announced on Wednesday. On the constitutionality of the adopted bill and on the admissibility of the request for a referendum of shared initiative (RIP) launched by the left.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of the Interior counted 740,000 demonstrators in France, including 93,000 in Paris, the CGT “more than 2 million” including 450,000 in the capital.

Before the new day of April 6, the unions have an appointment with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday?

“The date is clearly looming on Wednesday” April 5, replied the number 2 of the CFDT, Marylise Léon, Wednesday evening on the set of BFM TV, adding: “we are expected in inter-union” and “almost all the organizations have responded favorably “.

Matignon has not confirmed the date of April 5, indicating that it has not yet received all the answers.

In particular, there remains uncertainty about the CGT, in the middle of a congress and of which we will know on Friday the name of the new secretary general to succeed Philippe Martinez. However, within the CGT, voices were raised on Wednesday to say that responding to Ms. Borne’s invitation would be “a waste of time”.

For Marylise Léon, “the challenge is to seize this outstretched hand” from the executive, because “it was an aberration that neither the Prime Minister, nor the President, nor even the Minister of Labor wished to meet the inter-union”.

On Wednesday, on France Info, the number one of the CFDT Laurent Berger insisted as the day before on his desire to put the subject of pensions on the table, warning: “If I am told: you cannot talk about it ( ..) they will leave the room or we will leave”.

The union official again put forward the mediation proposal, the hypothesis of which had however been swept away by government spokesman Olivier Véran on Tuesday.

The Minister for Relations with Parliament, Franck Riester, and the president of the MoDem, François Bayrou, warned on Wednesday that the question of raising the legal retirement age would not be on the menu.

The postponement from 62 to 64, “this is the heart of the reform on which, from the start, there is no agreement”, declared Mr. Riester, wishing that the exchange be organized around of “subjects on which we agree”.

“The 64 years are in the text”, added François Bayrou, “we cannot change the line at this point”. “The text, it is behind us”, decided for his part the deputy Renaissance Sylvain Maillard in front of the press.

In public opinion, the mobilization remains mostly approved (63%), according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV published on Wednesday, which shows that the executive is perceived as the main responsible for the social conflict at 62% (9 points since March 10) .

If it does take place, will the reunion between government and unions only feature a dialogue of the deaf?

The secretary general of Unsa, Laurent Escure, warned on Twitter on Wednesday of the risks of disappointment, with an effect that would be “disastrous” and a day of the 6th which “would take another turn”.

“If Ms. Borne only creates a media staging (…), it will (him) come back like a boomerang in the face”, also warned LFI deputy Alexis Corbière.

On the right, Aurélien Pradié (LR) also considered that “if the government accepts dialogue it is to really dialogue, not to pretend”.

bur-grd-chl-are-cel/dch

03/29/2023 22:28:29 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP