The President of the Republic went to Rungis on Tuesday. Among the employees of the wholesale market that he met, the deputy La France insoumise du Val-de-Marne.
After the chaos of the Assembly, Emmanuel Macron continues to defend his pension reform from the Rungis market (Val-de-Marne). And he was arrested upon his arrival, Tuesday, February 21. Here at Rungis, tripe and poultry are on the breakfast menu. Emmanuel Macron makes his way between the carcasses. And the Head of State is obliged, in this huge cold room, to provide after-sales service for his pension reform. And he is expected at Rungis by employees of the national interest market, who have been up since midnight and who are there to challenge him on the decline in the starting age and the hardship. Rachel Keke, LFI MP for Val-de-Marne, is also there. “The working conditions of employees are very difficult and they cannot work until they are 64”, she says. A man adds: “I’ve been doing this job for 22 years.” “And me, 23 years old!” launch another. “From the age of 35, I already had back pain”, completes Rachel Keke. “At night, the cold, that’s why you have to differentiate between these situations. That’s what we do, assures Emmanuel Macron. And we must also allow conversions.
The Head of State comes, he says, to deliver a message of recognition to “this France which gets up early” that Nicolas Sarkozy had theorized. This France which allowed the country to turn during the Covid, to which he repeats that work must pay better. A nod sometimes close to clichés, but an assumed nod to the right which the executive needs more than ever to pass its pension reform.
“Keeping the same ages doesn’t work, this case!”
A message of recognition, but also a message of firmness. He remains inflexible on his reform. The head of state, whom his detractors have accused of being disconnected, withdrawn, silent, acknowledges lip service that the whole country is not really convinced. “I don’t think we’re at the end of this road. But I think everyone has common sense in our country. We have a system that we hold dear, which is a treasure. It’s basically the heritage of those who don’t have any. It’s not complicated to say that when we look back, we have fewer assets than 20 years ago, we have more retirees and we live longer. So it’s not true to say that we can keep the same ages. It doesn’t work! It doesn’t work, that business!”
Common sense, responsibility, this is the political message of the morning for an Emmanuel Macron back in contact with the field, a chicken in his hands before the hour of cheese and calf’s head arrives, in the tripe pavilion. Something to whet your appetite before the traditional visit to the Agricultural Show on Saturday.