Arthur de Laborde, edited by Gauthier Delomez 18:43 pm, April 05, 2023

While Emmanuel Macron began a three-day state visit to China on Wednesday, his entourage said that the president intended to receive the unions after the decision of the Constitutional Council on the pension reform. From Beijing, the head of state continues to closely observe the social context in France.

This is quite rare from abroad. This Wednesday, the Elysée immediately responded to the failure of the meeting at Matignon with the interunion. "Could we expect success? No," replies an adviser who underlines the determination of Emmanuel Macron, traveling to China for a three-day state visit, while insisting on the "very rich social agenda" he has set for the coming months.

>> READ ALSO – Pensions: the impasse of the government after the failure of discussions with the inter-union

"If people wanted retirement at 60, it was not him who had to be elected," says a close to the president somewhat annoyed in particular by the boss of the CFDT Laurent Berger, who spoke of a "serious democratic crisis". "That an elected president seeks to carry out a project on which he was elected, it is not called a democratic crisis," he said.

'Decisions to be made' after April 14

Another councillor also relativizes the mobilization in the street and highlights the decline in the rate of strikers: "Do not come to explain to us that the country is totally at a standstill," he said, before attacking the far left: "All political speeches that legitimize violence, that's the democratic threat."

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Emmanuel Macron's entourage also maintains its confidence in Elisabeth Borne by recognizing that the president will have decisions to make after the decision of the Constitutional Council, expected on April 14. After this date, the Head of State also hopes, despite everything, to see the unions again.