Pension reform: Elizabeth Bourne weakened by resorting to 49.3

When Elizabeth Bourne takes the podium to announce 49.3 on Wednesday, her voice is immediately drowned out by the boos of the opposition. For the most part, about twenty walking deputies try, in response, to stand up and support their leader. But everyone else remains seated, as if stunned by the reluctant decision. Most wanted to vote…

Behind the scenes, the collaborationist plague: “It’s like in sports, when there is no result, you have to change the coach. The prime minister, who has soaked her shirt in vain to compromise with the right, knows her government is in danger of a no-confidence vote. The Way of the Cross is not over… “When born, it will be difficult, terrible, admits a member of the majority in plain sight. She will be booed, it will be difficult for her to gain trust again. This is the most susceptible. »

“The worst thing would be if she were sacrificed. She is strict, she did her job. I don’t see who would be better than her,” says, however, a weighty deputy. Elizabeth Bourne, responsible for the failure of negotiations or the scapegoat for an unpopular reform? “She fulfilled her mission, which was to get the text accepted. 49.3 is a constitutional instrument, it did not fail, ”the president’s confidant insists. This is the 100th invocation to 49.3 of the Fifth Republic.

“She is not personally responsible”

This Élysée regular awaits a reshuffle, but with Elisabeth Bourne in Matignon and rising personalities around her such as “Gerald Darmanin, Sébastien Lecornu and Gabriel Attal”. “She made an impression on me. She is a stateswoman and now plays in Ligue 1. Another adds: “If the vote of no confidence is not passed, it cannot be changed now. She is not personally responsible. »

Before the elected representatives of the three majority groups on Wednesday afternoon, Elizabeth Bourne decided to put her functions ahead of her career: “My personal destiny will never force me to make a decision that I consider contrary to the interests of my country. . . . »