• Elisabeth Borne unveiled the pension reform bill on Tuesday evening and is counting on the right to have it adopted without going through a 49-3.

  • The Republicans have indicated that they are "ready to support a reform", listing "a few essential conditions", on small pensions and long careers in particular.

  • Requests visibly well received by the executive, but some elected LRs are cautious, because the right is already accused of being Emmanuel Macron's "lifeline".

The Republicans, new partners of the macronie?

Elisabeth Borne unveiled her pension reform this Tuesday at the end of the day, including the famous postponement of the legal retirement age to 64 in 2030. For lack of an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the executive is counting on elected LR to pass his text without resorting once again to article 49-3.

“We have always had the courage to reform pensions to save our pay-as-you-go system, so we are ready to support this text”, warned Olivier Marleix this Tuesday noon.

The boss of the LR deputies, however, listed the conditions necessary for this support during a press conference at the National Assembly.

A contortion exercise: in opposition but already accused of being "the lifeline" of Emmanuel Macron.

The right lays down its conditions

Before the announcements, at the Assembly on Tuesday, Olivier Marleix preferred to insist on the strong position of his group.

And list the measures that the right must imperatively appear in the government bill.

“We want the contribution period to prevail over the age criteria.

The pace should not be brutal", evoking "one quarter per year" of raising the legal age, "which brings to 63 years at the end of the five-year term, with a review clause and 64 years on the following five-year term " .

The LR leader in the Assembly also asked for guarantees on long careers, and wished that the minimum pension announced at 1,200 euros per month also concerns current retirees.

"We will be careful that the money from the contributions goes to pensions and is not used to finance anything else," he added.

A position not far from that of Bruno Retailleau in the Senate, or the new party boss, Eric Ciotti, who said he was ready last weekend to "vote a fair reform".

The wishes of the right have also been well received by the executive, according to Olivier Marleix.

"We take note that the Prime Minister has heard a number of requests," he said after the presentation of the project.

But the right-wing party is not fully aligned on the subject.

At the end of the morning, Aurélien Pradié, LR deputy for Lot, was more cautious.

“There is still a little way to go, with three weeks of parliamentary debates, the vote is never certain in advance.

We are not potiches”, he said, a bit annoyed, passing in front of the journalists.

“We are not yet on a totally fair reform.

My vote is not acquired “, also plagued the deputy of Haut-Rhin Raphaël Schellenberger.

“We are not going to oppose on principle”

Behind these turmoils, there is the fear of certain elected LRs of appearing to support the government.

The right has therefore already prepared its arguments: if it votes for the text, it will be because it has succeeded in bending the government on certain measures.

“They find all the reasons in the world to explain that they will vote for the text, saying that they have moved a half-comma here or there.

They will, in fact, once again be Emmanuel Macron's lifeline, ”said RN deputy Sébastien Chenu.

“We are not going to oppose in principle measures that we have been defending for thirty years”, sweeps Eric Pauget, LR deputy for the Alpes-Maritimes.

“If the text is voted without being forced through, which would set the country on fire, it means that we will have obtained important points.

We will have shown that we are a useful force, ready to return to power, ”he adds.

But can the right, which defended retirement at 65 during the last presidential campaign, still vary its discourse on the subject?

A majority MP fears further reversals in the event of major demonstrations in the coming weeks.

“The street scares them, because their positions as deputies are no longer acquired as in the past.

They know they can be beaten against a good RN candidate.

So if it gets hot in the street, we will lose them in clusters of ten”.

Company

Pension reforms: The government faces a "union front", demonstrations in sight

Politics

Pensions: Help from LRs or 49.3?

The government's ways to push through its reform

  • Pension reform

  • Olivier Marleix

  • National Assembly

  • The Republicans (LR)

  • Elisabeth Borne

  • Government

  • Right