The party, chaired by Eric Ciotti, is struggling to speak with one voice and to decide on the line to adopt in the face of the government’s project. Behind these debates, different visions of what the right should embody clash among Republicans.
How to demonstrate consistency and respect its history, without showing allegiance to an executive from which it intends to distinguish itself? This is the existential question that has been working on the Les Républicains party in recent days, the scene of an internal struggle to regain its unity. While the battle for pensions has committed to the Assembly, Monday, February 6, the majority is counting on the elected representatives of the right-wing party to have its text adopted. The National Rally does not hesitate to denounce this support, accusing LR of being “a crutch” of the government. The political corridor is therefore narrow for a right that wants both to show that it is capable of finding compromises with the presidential party, while remaining in opposition.
“You have to know how to adapt”
On several occasions in recent weeks, Eric Ciotti, the boss of the Republicans, has deplored “brutality” of the government’s bill, welcoming that the right has “attenuated” the reform by demanding the postponement of the legal retirement age to 64 rather than 65, but also the revaluation of small pensions for current retirees And small gestures in favor of long careers. A positioning that may have surprised in the Hemicycle.
“It’s funny to have the impression that Monsieur Ciotti has become the left wing of macronie.”
Clémentine Autain, deputy of La France insoumisequoted by AFP
Not so long ago, some indeed within LR had a completely different discourse on the subject. “I will defend retirement at 65”wrote Eric Ciotti, on Twitter, in November 2021, wanting to be the defender of the “work value” dear to the right for a long time. During the last two presidential elections, the candidates of the right, François Fillon in 2017, then Valérie Pécresse in 2022, also claimed a postponement of the legal age of departure to 65 years. The latter also had Aurélie Pradié as spokesperson. The deputy of Lot, who claimed in 2019 to be in favor of retirement at 64, is now engaged in a showdown with Elisabeth Borne on the issue of long careers. He assures that he will not vote for the reform as it stands.
Confused, the right? In the ranks of the Republicans, on the contrary, we want to prove that the party is showing consistency. “We are very attached to the pay-as-you-go system”underlines MP Véronique Louwagie, insisting on the need to reform the pension system. “However, we are emerging from a health crisis, we are experiencing a major energy crisis, we must know how to adapt”she believes, judging the threshold of 64 years “more acceptable” than the 65 years initially envisaged by the government and, until recently, by part of the right.
“We find ourselves in the wake of macronism”
Other LR deputies also underline the desire to harmonize the line of the group in the Assembly with that of LR senators, who for their part have been demanding a departure at 64 for several years, while the law currently sets the threshold. at 62 years old. “The real subject is to manage to be consistent today. There was a negotiation within the group, then with the government. I think we have reached a landing point which must be respected. “, supports deputy Alexandre Vincendet.
“What is also at stake is our ability to remain a party of government, it is our credibility.”
Alexandre Vincendet, LR deputy for the Rhôneat franceinfo
“We find ourselves being the trailer of macronismcreaks for his part an LR parliamentarian. We had the tempo and the conditions of the reform imposed on us.” The question of the LR vote is likely to lead to another concerning “the very identity of the party”explains political scientist Olivier Rouquan, associate researcher at the Center for Studies and Research in Administrative and Political Sciences (Cersa). “The party supports the government, and indirectly Emmanuel Macron, on an important file. There will undoubtedly then be a desire to stand out”he believes.
“The left does not have a monopoly on social issues”
But for the moment, it is above all the divisions between the LR deputies that are emerging. On the one hand, a line rather satisfied with the progress obtained is emerging, carried by Eric Ciotti and Olivier Marleix, the respectively president of the party and president of the LR group in the Assembly. On the other, “rebellious” deputies, gathered around Aurélien Pradié, who cast doubt on their intention to vote or not for the text.
The latter are demanding that people who have contributed a quarter before the age of 21 can leave at the age of 64, while the “long career” system currently imposes five quarters. What annoy more than one of their colleagues. “AT force to always demand more compromise, we will end up no longer being credible”, fears a deputy, referring to Elisabeth Borne’s concession on the extension of the long career system to those who started working between the ages of 20 and 21.
“Some in our ranks defend the ideas of the PS!”
Jean-François Copé, Mayor of Meauxin “The Parisian”
“The left does not have a monopoly on social issuesreplies the MP Xavier Breton. There is a majority current on the right which bears both its responsibilities, which implies not being in one-upmanship at the level of contesting the reform, but which has an important social component”he explains.
“The right is not about defending the rich. And those who think so just have to join Emmanuel Macron.”
Xavier Breton, LR deputy for Ainat franceinfo
Behind these divisions “there is also an awareness of the shrinking of LR’s electoral base”, analyzes Olivier Rouquan. The score of the Republicans in the first round of the presidential election (4.78%) can testify to this. In 2017, despite the affair of his wife’s fictitious jobs, François Fillon had won 20.01% of the vote. Since then, some of the voices of the right have shifted towards Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen. The left, notably La France insoumise, has also managed to attract the vote of part of the working classes. So many lost voters that need to be won back for LR.
“There was, in the time of Gaullism, Chiraquism, a right that managed to reach young people, and especially part of the middle classes, less fortunate. This is no longer the case todaycontinues the political scientist. We can clearly see, with the pension reform, that proposals that are too liberal are not accepted by this electorate of the middle and working classes. And even by a large part of the French.” And a deputy from the Republicans to admit the underlying issue: “We are trying to reposition the party.”