Pensions: the oppositions react after the validation of the essence of the reform

Europe 1 with AFP 19:07 p.m., April 14, 2023

The turning point of Emmanuel Macron's five-year term? This Friday, the Constitutional Council validated the essence of the pension reform, including the postponement of the legal age to 64 years. On the other hand, six provisions of the text were censored and a first request for a referendum of shared initiative (RIP) of the left was blocked. The emblematic measure of this controversial reform, the gradual postponement of the legal retirement age to 64, will therefore have the force of law as soon as the President of the Republic has promulgated the text. Faced with this decision, the reactions of the oppositions were not long in coming.

"The struggle continues", according to Jean-Luc Mélenchon

"The struggle continues," Mélenchon said. "The decision of the Constitutional Council shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people," tweeted the leader of La France insoumise.

The decision of the Constitutional Council shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people. The struggle continues and must gather its forces.

— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) April 14, 2023

"We are in a democratic impasse," Marine Tondelier, national secretary of Europe-Ecology-Greens, told AFP. "The reform is legal, but more than ever illegitimate." She warned: "the parties, the unions, the French will not move on." Marine Tondelier said she was also "shocked" by the rejection of the citizens' initiative referendum requested by the left. "It's a disappointment, it's not a surrender," PS First Secretary Olivier Faure said. "We are facing a bad, unjust, illegitimate law," "even if constitutionally it has been validated" in law, he added.

>> READ ALSO - "Neither winner nor vanquished," says Borne after the validation of the essence of the pension reform

"We solemnly call on the President of the Republic not to promulgate this law," said the president of the LFI group in the National Assembly Mathilde Panot. "There were plenty of arguments not to validate this law," Fabien Roussel, the national secretary of the PCF on BFMTV. "I call on the President of the Republic and Elisabeth Borne not to promulgate this law within 48 hours as we see fit, it would be a real slap in the face, provocation," he added.

"The political fate of the reform is not sealed," says Marine Le Pen

"The political fate of the pension reform is not sealed," said Friday Marine Le Pen, deputy of the National Rally, considering that "it will be up to (the people) to prepare the alternation that will return to this reform". "The entry into force of this reform will mark the definitive break between the French people and Emmanuel Macron," added the unfortunate triple presidential candidate, assuring that "when (she) comes to power", "one of her first measures will be to set up a progressive, fair and financially sustainable pension system". The deputy of Pas-de-Calais also called on "all French people to mobilize", not in the street, but "by a vote in favor of the National Rally".

If the decision of the Constitutional Council closes the institutional sequence, the political fate of the pension reform is not sealed. The people always having the last word, it will be up to them to prepare the alternation that will return to this useless and unjust reform.

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) April 14, 2023

His successor at the head of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, for his part said that "Emmanuel Macron will not be able to hide behind the decision that does not close the debate", observing a "gaping fracture" "between the president and the people".