Pensions: Macron says he wants to "continue to reach out" to the unions and attacks LFI

Europe1 .fr with AFP 17:37 p.m., March 27, 2023

Stuck in the crisis, Emmanuel Macron assured Monday want to "continue to reach out" to the unions, without however questioning his pension reform, on the eve of a tenth day of mobilization against a backdrop of controversy over violence between police and demonstrators. Inflexible on the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years unanimously rejected by the unions, the head of state reaffirmed before the tenors of the government and the leaders of his camp gathered for a lunch at the Elysee Palace his desire to iron out the situation.

No "pause" of the reform

"We must continue to reach out to the trade union forces," he was quoted as saying by one participant. But the president wants to talk to them about working conditions - from the arduousness to the employment of seniors through retraining - without acceding to the request of the secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger to put on "pause" the reform for six months.

READ ALSO – Pensions: Emmanuel Macron and the executive seek solutions to get out of the crisis

But the union leader warned again on Monday: he will only accept this "outstretched hand" if the government puts "aside for the moment the reform". He assured AFP that he had made the same response to the secretary general of the Elysee, Alexis Kohler, who called him last week to "discuss the atmosphere". "In fact the text is on pause the time of the examination by the Constitutional Council," explained the participant at the Elysian lunch, judging that the idea was to "take advantage" of this period of three to four weeks to "discuss these subjects" annexes.

A sequence of consultations opened by Elisabeth Borne

Elisabeth Borne had already tried Sunday to advocate appeasement. We must listen" to this "tension" in connection with the reform, she acknowledged. The Prime Minister has set herself two objectives: "To appease the country in the face of these tensions and accelerate responses to the expectations of the French."

To do this, it opened on Monday a vast sequence of consultations spread over three weeks, with parliamentarians, political parties, representatives of local elected representatives and social partners if they wish. This "action plan" was first detailed to Emmanuel Macron and then to the executives of the relative majority and some members of government.

READ ALSO – Pension reform: Emmanuel Macron facing the challenge of the unity of his own camp

According to the same participant at the lunch at the Elysee, the president "asked him to try to expand the majority by conducting consultations at the edges of the current majority", text by text, starting from the observation that it would be difficult to embark entire political formations or to build a stable coalition. In this meeting, the Prime Minister said she wanted to "propose a contract of method" whose contours are still unclear.

Youth engagement

Emmanuel Macron also attacked La France insoumise, accusing it of wanting to "delegitimize the reasonable order" and the "institutions", and to prepare the "delegitimization of the Constitutional Council" in case it validates the reform. He also called for "condemning violence very, very firmly," according to the participant. In the immediate future, the unions, united against the reform, are preparing a new day of action, the 10th against the text.

According to Europe 1 information, territorial intelligence estimates that "650,000 to 900,000 people will march everywhere in France Tuesday, including 70,000 to 100,000 people in Paris". Another police source predicts "a doubling, even a tripling" of the presence of young people in the processions, especially mobilized on the issue of police violence.

READ ALSO – Pension reform: "Mélenchon and his friends are the rentiers of anger," says Olivier Véran

Previous demonstrations were marred by violent incidents, with 457 arrests and 441 police and gendarmes injured on 23 March. In particular, a judicial investigation was opened after the threats and intimidation made by police against young demonstrators in Paris and revealed in an audio recording.

While the Council of Europe spoke of an "excessive use of force", the terrain of clashes moved Saturday to Sainte-Soline in the Deux-Sèvres, where a demonstration against the basins left dozens injured on the side of the police as demonstrators. One protester was between life and death on Sunday. On 23 March, demonstrations in France brought together between 1.09 million (Beauvau) and 3.5 million (CGT). The executive expected a decrease in protest.