On the island of Reunion, Elisabeth Borne could not forget the social protest

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during her visit to the Maïdo Atmospheric Physics Observatory on Reunion Island, May 13, 2023. AFP - EMMANUEL DUNAND

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Elisabeth Borne is back in metropolitan France this Sunday, May 14 after her three-day visit to Reunion Island. A trip that intervened while it will be a year Tuesday, May 16 that she is head of government. Her entourage promised that she would take the time to discuss with Reunion Islanders. But contact with the population was ultimately quite rare. The fight against pension reform may not be quite behind the government.

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With our special envoy to Reunion Island, Pierrick Bonno

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I will not give up on going into contact with the French. And we will take each time the organization necessary so that I can go and discuss. This promise of Elisabeth Borne in front of a handful of journalists Friday, May 12 will not have been kept.

During her three-day visit to Reunion Island, the Prime Minister was supposed to take the time to make contact. Three days where she finally had to avoid a series of pot concerts. Protesters each time very few, but who visibly dissuaded her from leaving the very institutional framework of her visit. Just a surprise appearance on a covered market. Fifteen minutes, no more.

Sans grande surprise, un comité d'accueil d'une vingtaine d'opposants à la réforme des retraites attendait ⁦@Elisabeth_Borne⁩ ce matin à Saint-Pierre pour la deuxième journée de sa visite à la Réunion ⁦@RFI⁩ pic.twitter.com/UKe670RZ2I

— Pierrick Bonno (@pierrickbonno) May 12, 2023

No hook either by Mayotte. The neighboring island, at the heart of an operation to expel undocumented Comorians, was only 1h30 flight. But Elisabeth Borne did not see fit to show herself. Officially for security reasons and not to disrupt the "Wuambushu" operation. Perhaps also not to give the image of a Prime Minister jostled on the national territory in the face of the discontent of a Mahoran population facing daily violence.

As a final sequence, Elisabeth Borne preferred to stroll through the alleys of a military barracks. Well protected from protest and pots and pans.

► Read also: France: the concrete announcements of Elisabeth Borne in Reunion Island

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  • France
  • Elisabeth Borne
  • Réunion
  • Social issues
  • Employment and Labour
  • Mayotte