Pension advice: Elisabeth Bourne tries to convince the opposition

All for this? By resuming the cycle of political consultations with the leaders of the parliamentary groups on pensions, Elizabeth Bourne may have intended not only to delay the presentation of the reform, which was eventually postponed to January 10, but perhaps also to open up new room for maneuver. After two days of consecutive interviews in his office, on Wednesday 14 December and Thursday 15 December, the summing up is final: each other’s positions remain at least unchanged, even if the Prime Minister’s entourage lauds the meetings as “very useful”. and constructive.

Not surprisingly, Mathilde Panot (LFI) walked out of Matignon denouncing the “profoundly unjust” reform that her group would oppose “with all its might”, in the street and in the semicircle. Same story with Marine Le Pen (RN), who keeps talking about “cruel and unfair” lyrics. While Patrick Kanner, the leader of the PS Senators, balked at the formula to denounce the government’s desire to delay the legal retirement age to 65: “It’s a policy of carrots and sticks, but the main goal is the stick.”

All eyes on Les Republicains

So how do you get out of this impasse in order to try to win a majority in parliament and not give the impression that reform will be brutally imposed? All eyes are now on the Republicans, potential allies of circumstance. In an attempt to pass – a little – a pill, the prime minister will not object to the idea of ​​moving the age of majority to 64, not to 65, but with an extension of the due date. The hypothesis already formulated by the senatorial majority … has acquired the right.

But a concession that, at this stage, has not yet received the favorable arbitration of Emmanuel Macron. “Things are going slowly, we can move towards this,” the relative says. “The Prime Minister does not have a mandate from the President of the Republic to prepare for the 65th birthday,” continues Matignon, for his part.

There remains one more option, which, moreover, is not a big secret: amending the Social Security Funding Bill, which will allow the executive branch to use section 49.3 of the Constitution to pass its text. “The most effective way to go all the way, but by far the most unpopular,” the minister fears as January takes the form of anti-him social movements and strikes that could paralyze the country for years, weeks.

“If the government and the president of the republic insist that we work longer, there will be social movements and no one will be able to say that we were not warned,” CGT leader Philip Martinez is already threatening.