LR officials hope to take advantage of the social crisis. - Olivier Coret / SIPA

  • Since 2017, Les Républicains have struggled to distance themselves from the policy pursued by the executive.
  • The right hopes to take advantage of the bogged down social conflict and the mistakes of the majority on pension reform.
  • LR recently exposed his counter-project to reform the pension system.

The end of hibernation? Since the election of Emmanuel Macron, the right has struggled to be heard. The Republicans have struggled to stand out from the policy led by the executive, who can only note the flight of their electorate to The Republic on the move. Until the pension reform? Inaudible during the movement of "yellow vests", the right hopes this time to take advantage of the stagnation of social conflict and the mistakes of the majority.

“There is no backbone in this reform. Emmanuel Macron has already backed down because the bill will be passed after the municipal elections. And the pivotal age exploded in mid-flight, ”says Lot deputy Aurélien Pradié, secretary general of the party.

LR chose to target the economic credibility of the government project

But the exercise is not easy. Spectator of the standoff between strikers and majority, the right intends to oppose the reform ... without hitting its electorate, which is favorable to it. In the latest Ifop poll published on Sunday, 74% of LR supporters want the establishment of a universal system "ending special regimes", and 62% approve of the government's "points system". A large majority also hopes that the government will complete its reform.

The reforming courage of E. Macron @enmarchefr is a courage. Inflates, speaks loudly, then deflates. Illusions fall. With the abandonment of the balanced budget, the French will have had strikes without the reform. There will remain the point and its new injustices.

- Aurélien Pradié (@AurelienPradie) January 11, 2020

The right has therefore chosen to attack at an angle, on a specific angle: the lack of serious budget for the executive. The provisional "withdrawal" of the pivotal age, announced by Edouard Philippe on Saturday, is very timely. “The government has given in to the sirens of the unions. He therefore renounces to financially balance the future system ”, tackle Damien Abad, president of the LR group in the Assembly.

The promise of balance, however hammered by the Prime Minister, is swept away by the deputy. "He has already struggled to put a pivotal age in the text, it will be even more difficult for him to put it back, under pressure from the unions. Due to lack of courage and will, Edouard Philippe took the risk of having to lower pensioners' pensions. It is a further denial after the exceptions already made to the universal regime ”.

LR advocates retirement at 65 and a "universal hardship scheme"

To better stand out from the government text, the right presented a counter-project in late December, refined last Wednesday. Among the proposals: the preservation of complementary funds, the abolition in twelve years of all special regimes, the creation of a "universal hardship regime" ... All, budgeted to the nearest penny, by a gradual decline to 65 years of the legal age of departure.

“We need an age measure to finance, we have said from the start. We finally hear the right because we have kept our coherence, ”summarizes Abad. And LR resumes dreaming. “Emmanuel Macron's confusions have confused the right-wing voter, who can see that the president is moving further and further away from the reformist audacity of the beginnings. It's up to us to embody alternation, ”he adds.

“This seriously budgetary trial is not audible. And we will see what the French think of their retirement at 65… ”, quips MoDem MP Erwan Balanant. Eric Woerth, former Budget Minister of Nicolas Sarkozy, says it in his own way. "I'm not sure that what we are offering will put less people on the street, it may add a little more, but it will be for good reasons: crisp, clear, precise. While today, we no longer understand anything. ”

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  • Retirement
  • Pension reform
  • Right
  • The Republicans