The executive nourishes the hope of having his text voted in the National Assembly but fears the radicalization of the movement, while the unions say they are ready to “put the country to stop” on March 7. The Head of State follows the debate closely, without getting started openly.
by Ivanne Trippenbach
It was since the lantern setting, discreet residence in Versailles, where the Macron couple had withdrew in the middle of “yellow vests” in December 2018, that the President of the Republic followed the fourth day mobilization against pension reform, Saturday February 11. Without intention to flank. But with, report his loved ones, a tense vigilance. Between 963,000 and 2.5 million people paraded in more than 200 cities in France, more than Tuesday, February 7, although below the announced surge. It is a question of avoiding at all costs the image or the little sentence which would stir a very tense debate in the National Assembly, doubled with a social challenge which threatens to harden. Even before new demonstrations on Thursday, the unions said they were ready to “put the country to stop” March 7.
“The Head of State cannot remain deaf in the face of this unprecedented mobilization,” insisted Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, Sunday, on LCI, considering that “it takes a response today to this massive opposition “. The call comes up against the walls of the Elysée, where there is no question of backing up. “We advance”, even harangu Emmanuel Macron, in early February, with his followers. In this tactical battle, the government and the majority try to hold the strong place during the fifty days of the parliamentary debate, without committing a crossroads. Until the moment, perceived as a liberator, where power will be able to proclaim that Parliament voted, hoping that social anger falls on its own.
At the end of a week of debates of rare violence at the Palais-Bourbon, Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne are satisfied with an alignment of the presidential majority, as if they saw the nightmare of the Fronde moving away gradually. “Disorder is not with us”, we underline in Matignon, in reference to the insults and provocations of the new Ecological and Social People’s People’s Union (Nuts), which Emmanuel Macron judged in October 2022, on France 2, that “they are on the side of disorder and cynicism”. “It will not lead to anything,” he warned then, defending his pension reform for “that our model falls on his feet”.
burst … and embarrassment
In a few days, the majority have recharged in a start. “There has been a form of solidarity, an awareness of the need to be united in the face of the ones and invective, recognizes Jean-Paul Mattei, leader of the MoDem group, an ally with scratch of the presidential party. We May not agree, but everyone should calm down a little in the name of the democratic debate. “At the top of the government, we also have a good eye the alliance with the right Les Républicains (LR) , despite his protesting fringe. The president of LR, Eric Ciotti, is now described in Matignon as “a friend” and “a reliable partner”. Quite reliable for the end of special diets to be adopted Friday February 10, at 181 votes against 163.
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