France: The government's waiting strategy on pension reform

Élisabeth Borne, flanked by the Ministers of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, and Minister of Transformation and the Civil Service, Stanislas Guérini, on the right. Hôtel de Matignon, Paris, this Wednesday, April 5, 2023. AFP - BERTRAND GUAY

Text by: Valérie Gas Follow

1 min

Unsurprisingly, the meeting between Elisabeth Borne and the inter-union, this Wednesday, April 5, did not unblock the situation. The French Prime Minister refuses to withdraw the pension reform, and the unions continue their mobilization. The balance of power continues, pending the opinion of the Constitutional Council.

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A posteriori, in the majority, the issue of the meeting between the Prime Minister and the inter-union is relativized. There was not much to expect, so we can not really talk about failure.

One MP almost rejoiced, explaining that "it could have been worse". The meeting has the merit of having taken place, even if everyone remained on their positions, and it had no other ambition than that of displaying an outstretched hand.

Because time is suspended until April 14, when the Constitutional Council will render its decision on the pension reform. This is the deadline that everyone is waiting for and before which neither the government nor the unions have any interest in moving, each hoping that the "wise men" will bring grist to his mill.

A delay that allows the government to observe "the evolution of social discontent", "if it calms down and the Constitutional Council validates the text, we move on to the next step", explains a minister.

A strategy of waiting, of "rottenness", say the unions, who want to maintain the balance of power in the street, with a new day of mobilization whose scale will be decisive for the future.

► Read also: Pensions: "failure" of discussions in Matignon, the inter-union maintains its mobilization

An inter-union that stands firm

This Thursday, April 6, is the eleventh day of mobilization against the pension reform. Some 11,500 police officers will be deployed throughout the country. Following the failure of Wednesday's meeting in Matignon, between Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the inter-union, anger is rising and the government anticipates excesses in the processions.

This eleventh day of protest takes a new turn. Faced with the deadlock, due to the failure of the meeting, there is no longer any hope of a way out of the conflict. Since the beginning of the movement, the inter-union has capitalized on the refusal of the French and the latter does not weaken. She again calls on citizens to take to the streets en masse to express their disagreement even more strongly.

If the government is counting on the exhaustion of the demonstrators and on the division of the inter-union, for the time being, the latter is holding firm. The leaders of the eight trade union organisations continue to speak with one voice. For Laurent Berger of the CFDT, the social crisis is turning into a democratic crisis. As for Sophie Binet of the CGT, she says she has found an obtuse and radicalized government.

All denounce a dialogue of the deaf and continue to mobilize with the hope of replaying 2006, when the government had withdrawn the CPE law a month after having passed it through a 49.3.

Economy Department, Patricia Lecompte

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  • France
  • French politics
  • Social issues
  • Elisabeth Borne
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Unions