Now that the government’s project has been promulgated, Elisabeth Borne says she now wants to “improve working conditions”. Emmanuel Macron, he will have to “warm up his relations” with the French.
Sigh of relief within the government? The Constitutional Council largely validated, Friday, April 14, the highly contested pension reform. If the Elders retorted six measures contained in the text, including the senior CDI and the senior index, considered as “social riders”, the postponement of the retirement age to 64 was not deemed unconstitutional.
>> Pension reform: what to remember from the decisions of the Constitutional Council
The President of the Republic promulgated the law in the Official Journal on the night of Friday April 14 to Saturday April 15. It therefore did not seize, as requested by the Nupes, article 10 of the Constitution to send the text back to Parliament for a new deliberation. “Since 2017, the president systematically enacts all laws the next day or the day after”reminded the entourage of Emmanuel Macron to franceinfo.
>> Follow live the latest information on the pension reform
The majority want to move on
If the executive has escaped the snub of total censorship of its reform, this is not the time for cries of joy. “The text is coming to the end of its democratic process. Tonight there is no winner or loser”soberly reacted Elisabeth Borne on Twitter. The Head of State, he remained silent. If the presidential majority is keeping a low profile, it is because the reform came out of the Constitutional Council in a version that corresponds even less to what the opposition demanded.
Among the measures censured by the Elders, several were considered as concessions granted to the Les Républicains party and the inter-union, like the senior index or the senior CDI. “The Constitutional Council removed all the so-called ‘sweet’ measures, which could give the vague illusion that the text was balanced”analyzes Benjamin Morel, lecturer in public law and doctor of political science at the University of Paris-Panthéon-Assas.
Could the measures censured by the Elders find a place elsewhere, in the future labor bill that the government is preparing? “It’s quite likely”believes the Macronist deputy Marc Ferracci, who argues that a text on work would be “a legitimate vehicle” to introduce provisions concerning the employment of seniors. Going beyond the issue of pensions is now the stated objective of the executive: “ATu work now. To move on to another sequence and embody something else”exclaimed, just after the decision, a ministerial adviser.
“I hope that [la décision du Conseil constitutionnel] will close the sequence of retreats. We now have the opportunity to introduce a strong new labor law by taking back the censored provisions and reaching out to the unions.”
A member of the Renaissance partyat franceinfo
A desire which the executive formally expressed in a press release sent by Matignon, shortly after the decision of the Elders. “The government’s desire is now to continue consultation with the social partners to give more meaning to work, improve working conditions and achieve full employment”, provide the services of the Prime Minister.
The executive finds himself isolated
Closing the retreat sequence, of course. But we still have to get out of the political and social crisis that has been going on for twelve weeks. “The government finds itself in a situation where it is extremely divisive in opinion and has lost all ties with the social partners”, emphasizes Benjamin Morel. The unions have already announced that they will not go to Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to the Elysée. Moreover, the executive still does not have a majority in Parliament.
“The government can try to propose new measures, but with whom is it going to consult? With whom is it going to vote for them? It is in a form of helplessness.”
Benjamin Morel, Doctor of Political Scienceat franceinfo
“Relationships will take time to warm up,” considers the deputy Renaissance Charles Sitzenstuhl. “It is necessary that’[Emmanuel Macron] make a ’20 Hours’ and a series of trips to the provinces, that he speaks to ‘France of the territories'”estimates for its part a ministerial adviser. “Talking about school, health and ecology, it’s better to do it in contact with people”he continues, in reference to the “cap” drawn in March around three axes: the republican order, full employment and reindustrialization, and daily progress around education, health and ecology.
There remains one last unknown, linked to the second request for a shared initiative referendum (RIP), filed on April 13 by left-wing senators. The first, which also came from the left, was challenged by the Constitutional Council. The institution of rue Montpensier must decide on May 3 on this second version. “From there, we can judge the rest of the sequence”, believes Jean-Charles Larsonneur. For the member of the Horizons party, “until this date at least, it is logical that the social and trade union forces opposed to the reform do not give up an inch of ground”.