"There would be no political benefit to changing the prime minister, except to change the line," Canfin, in charge of government relations at the presidential Renaissance party, said in an interview posted online Saturday.
"No one would have done better than her" on pensions, "she must not pay the damage" of the Republicans, divided on the reform. "From the moment when the challenge is to appease, to resume the path, why change? Besides, no one among the social partners says that someone else would have negotiated better," the MEP said.
Asked about Gérald Darmanin's comments on the "intellectual terrorism" of the left or his desire to "look" at the public subsidy paid to the League of Human Rights (LDH), Pascal Canfin considers that "we must not fall into a hysterization of the debate, in conflictuality and in the strategy of tension".
"The key to the success of a central pole is to assume dialogue, nuance, compromises, complexity," adds the Renaissance manager. "Otherwise, we will play into the hands of extremism and the weakening of democracy," Canfin said. "The opponent of 2027 is the RN."
On the LDH, "a Minister of the Interior cannot threaten to review the subsidies of an organization because he does not agree with it. Democracy is pluralism. This is not acceptable as an approach," said Canfin, who noted in this regard that "there is no official position of the government on this subject".
On the tensions between the leader of the CFDT Laurent Berger and President Emmanuel Macron, he considers that before the decision of the Constitutional Council on April 14, "it is too early to project himself into a quality dialogue".
"First of all, the majority must put more emphasis on its social measures" and "the tax issue must not be a taboo," he said. On ecology, the former EELV activist considers that "things are progressing but we do not see it enough".
© 2023 AFP