The head of state, in withdrawal since January on the issue of pensions, will respond at 13:00, live at the Elysee, to journalists Marie-Sophie Lacarrau of TF1 and Julian Bugier of France 2, on the eve of a new day of union mobilization Thursday and while the demonstrations sometimes punctuated by tensions continued in the country.

Other processions took place in Lille or Grenoble, as well as in Rennes and Nantes, where tear gas shots were recorded, as well as damage on the sidelines of the procession.

Several oil depots also remained blocked. Incidents broke out Tuesday in Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille, where authorities requisitioned striking staff at a time when 12% of the country's service stations are running out of petrol or diesel.

Faced with these tensions, Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called on the government to "appease" and "listen to anger", while assuming its choices, according to participants in a meeting with parliamentarians from his camp at the end of a day of intense consultations.

Protesters protect themselves with an umbrella during a demonstration in Nantes (France) on March 21, 2023 © LOIC VENANCE / AFP

The "crowd" has "no legitimacy"

"The crowd, whatever it is, has no legitimacy in the face of the people who express themselves sovereign through their elected representatives," he warned.

"There is at the Elysee a fireworks technician who walks on the barrels of powder with a torch," reacted on Twitter the leader of the socialists Olivier Faure, who signs with 2,500 elected PS an open letter to the president published on the site of the JDD to demand the withdrawal of this reform which "dynamites our social contract".

In the morning, the head of state had summarized to the tenors of the government and the leaders of Macron his state of mind, at the time of relaunching his second five-year term, already hampered after barely eleven months.

Mobile riot gendarmes face protesters on the Place de la République in Paris on March 21, 2023 © Ludovic MARIN / AFP

"No dissolution, no reshuffle, no referendum," he said.

Despite the final adoption Monday by Parliament of its flagship reform, all unions and almost all oppositions continue to demand its withdrawal, wind standing against the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years.

The use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass the text without a vote revived the protest, especially since it was followed by a motion of censure against the government rejected by only nine votes.

Oil workers gather outside a refinery in Fos-sur-Mer near Marseillen on March 21, 2023 © CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP

Deprived of an absolute majority since the legislative elections in June, Emmanuel Macron could not count as he hoped, on pensions, on the full support of the deputies The Republicans.

In an interview with Le Figaro, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe advises him to "broaden" his political base with "a coalition" ranging "from the LR to the elected representatives of the left who do not find themselves in the Nupes".

Risky, given the rejection expressed by the oppositions.

"Stagnation", "not an option"

"The problem is the president of the Republic," said the leader of the LR deputies Olivier Marleix.

Emmanuel Macron "set fire and closed all the exits" by "passing in force", denounced the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while the boss of the deputies National Rally Marine Le Pen warned in an interview with AFP that the president had alone "the keys to a political crisis that he created".

In the immediate future, the president asked his troops to make "within two to three weeks" "proposals" for a "change of method and agenda of reforms", which could allow him to delay without making strong announcements on Wednesday. He had already announced a "new method" at the beginning of his new mandate, without convincing results to date.

On Tuesday evening, he also promised to "move forward" on "health, school and ecology" while organizing "the society of full employment".

Police officers stand next to the burning tram rails on March 21, 2023 in Nantes (France) © LOIC VENANCE / AFP

In the majority, expectations are high.

"Where are we going, how do we do it, what do we change?" said a lawmaker from the left wing of the presidential party Renaissance, who warned: "alone against all, it's a mistake."

Several voices encourage him to "talk to the French who work", "purchasing power", but also to promise better working conditions and wages. But others warn against further spending.

"Immobility is not an option, it is the guarantee of decommissioning," warns Edouard Philippe.

© 2023 AFP