Eric Ciotti dismisses Aurélien Pradié from his position as number 2 of LR after disagreements on the reform

He denounces a “personal adventure”. The president of the Les Républicains party Eric Ciotti announced, on Saturday February 18, to dismiss his number 2 Aurélien Pradié, openly opposed to a part of the pension reform yet supported by LR.

>> Find the latest information on the pension reform in our direct

“His repeated positions [n’étaient] more in line with the values ​​of coherence, unity and unity which must guide the Republican right”, justified the boss of LR in a press release. The crisis had been brewing for weeks and broke out the day after the end of the tumultuous review of the reform at the Palais-Bourbon.

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Aurélien Pradié not convinced by government guarantees

While Eric Ciotti and Olivier Marleix, leader of the LR group in the Assembly, have been supporting the government’s pension reform project for weeks, which would raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, Aurélien Pradié, who occupied the place of executive vice-president of the party, openly conditions his support for the reform on strict progress on the device of long careers.

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The MP for Lot intends to obtain strict assurances from the government that anyone who enters the labor market before the age of 21 can retire at the full rate after having contributed 43 annual installments, without the legal retirement age does not constitute a barrier. If the government seemed to take a step in this direction on several occasions, first by declarations by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, then by remarks in the hemicycle of Olivier Dussopt, Aurélien Pradié like other LR deputies have considered that the guarantees provided by the executive did not completely rule out the possibility for certain people with long careers of having to contribute 44 years.

“The only fate that matters is that of the French for whom we are committed. Convictions, it is defendable. Relentlessly”, tweeted Aurélien Pradié on Saturday, a few minutes after the publication of the LR press release.