"Today the Prime Minister, unquestionably, no longer has the credit with the French, with the representatives that we are, to be able to lead serenely a government," said the leader of the National Rally deputies, after a 45-minute meeting.
Asked about the arrest in The Hague of Emmanuel Macron by opponents of the pension reform, Marine Le Pen said that the use of article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allowed the adoption without a vote of the pension reform, "will remain a real trauma".
"The democratic game has been collapsed" because "this reform should not have passed," she insisted. "It will remain a deep scar in the same way perhaps, in terms of intensity, as the 2005 referendum." Ms Le Pen was referring to the referendum that led to the rejection of the idea of a European Constitution, a project that was nevertheless largely restored in the Lisbon Treaty of 2007.
"There are markers like that make an increasingly important part of the French feel that there is no longer a proper democratic functioning in our country," she added.
The far right leader also criticised the "slowdown of the parliamentary calendar" and the "rhythm of the texts presented to the National Assembly" mentioned according to her by Ms Borne: "I am not sure that this is the right medicine to cure the democratic crisis," she said.
She reminded the Prime Minister of the "absolute emergencies" to which the government should respond in her opinion: "food inflation", "the construction site of public order", and "medical deserts".
© 2023 AFP