Supposed to prove Emmanuel Macron’s ability to transform the country, the project was the subject, from the presidential campaign, of chaotic communication. A vagueness maintained since by the Elysée, to the chagrin of the members of the majority.
by Claire Gatinois, Matthieu Goar and Ivanne Trippenbach
A human tide swept through Paris, as in the province. Tuesday, January 31, almost two weeks after the mobilization of January 19, anger at the pension reform has shown no sign of bending. More than a million French people – 1.27 million according to the Ministry of the Interior, 2 million according to the unions – again beat the pavement to protest against the executive project which plans to retreat from 62 to 64 years the retirement age. In Paris, Nantes, Marseille, in medium -sized cities as in small municipalities, the demonstrators, more numerous than on January 19, called on the government to retreat. In vain ? Emmanuel Macron stands out, allowing himself only a few brief appearances to retouch, by far, a political story that seems to escape him.
The day before, the Head of State had, from the Netherlands, recalled the inevitable aspect of a reform which he describes as “essential when we compare to Europe”. “The retirement at 64 (…) is no longer negotiable,” warned Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne on Sunday. A line of firmness relayed by Gérald Darmanin in an interview with the Parisian, where the Minister of the Interior attacks the “leftist” idea of a society “without work and effortless”. As if he had taken note of the hostility of a public opinion which he did not know how to convince, the power no longer masks the harshness of a highly unpopular reform. A change of foot claimed by the Elysée, after Matignon had praised the “justice” of the Borne project. “The machine is going on. All this leaves a taste of roughly,” observes the centrist senator of Hauts-de-Seine Hervé Marseille.
Symbolic reform supposed to testify to the capacity of the Head of State to transform a country deemed inkyste, the subject of pensions has, from its genesis, paid the cost of moving communication. After having abandoned the initial project of a points reform, in 2019, the Head of State, at regular intervals, mentioned this “necessary” reform during his first mandate, without taking action, deciding to Make it an object of its presidential campaign.
“We have a lot of progress to finance”
At the time, the president, expenditure and reluctance at any tax increase, presents the idea as a fundraising. This classic reform with budgetary aims, in the style of those led by its predecessors, breaks with its disruptive profile. But he makes it a tool at the service of the great story to transform society. Questions fuse on the mechanics and the why of such a reform, which has so far had no emergency character. The blur settles.
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