Pension reform: "the majority will be united", assures Elisabeth Borne

Europe 1 with AFP 6:19 p.m., January 31, 2023

"The majority will be united" on the disputed pension reform, assured Elisabeth Borne this Tuesday before the Macronist deputies, when the Parisian demonstration against this project, which arouses criticism even within the presidential camp.

"With this reform, we are fighting to save the pay-as-you-go system. We are fighting for our social model. So I have no doubt for a second that the majority will be united," said the Prime Minister, according to a participant in the majority intergroup, which brings together the deputies of the Renaissance presidential party and the allied parties Horizons and MoDem.

The majority "has always united behind the President of the Republic and his project", insisted the Prime Minister.

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"Respect the opinions of those who demonstrate"

"Let's never be provocative," also said the head of government, referring to this second day of mobilization, we must "respect the opinions of those who demonstrate (...) it's democracy".

"In the hemicycle too, be on the lookout for all the lies. (...) The oppositions have nothing to offer, except a reduction in pensions, a tax increase, or to break the dynamics of the employment", she argued in front of the leaders Aurore Bergé (Renaissance), Laurent Marcangeli (Horizons), and Jean-Paul Mattei (MoDem).

Also present were Ministers Olivier Dussopt (Labour), Franck Riester (Relations with Parliament), and Stanislas Guerini (Public Service), the President (Renaissance) of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, and the boss of the presidential party Stéphane Séjourné .

"Fighting all untruths"

In the coming weeks, it will be necessary "to continue to explain the project, to continue to listen to the French and to continue to fight all the untruths", added Elisabeth Borne, according to the same source.

"Some would like to fuel a quarrel about figures on the balance of the regime, that has a name: denial. (...) What is the heart of our social model could not hold up in the face of a demographic reality that we cannot ignore," she pleaded.

"No, we will not retire at 64 overnight. We will get there gradually in 8 years; no, we are not penalizing women. Until now, women retired later than men; after the reform, it will be the opposite. And the amount of women's pensions will increase more than that of men", she argued.

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"Carry" the reform

Monday evening, she had urged the leaders of Renaissance to "mobilize" and "carry" the reform, which "requires effort" but "saves the system" of pensions.

Many Macronist deputies are nostalgic for the universal pension system abandoned during the previous five-year term, and not all are comfortable with the postponement of the legal age to 64 or with certain accompanying devices.

All the unions are organizing a second day of strikes and demonstrations against the pension reform on Tuesday, hoping to bring together more people than on the first day on January 19 when 1.2 to 2 million people marched in the street. .