(Paris) Emmanuel Macron persists and signs: the highly contested pension reform must be applied “before the end of the year”, reaffirmed on TF1 and France 2 the head of state who agrees “to endorse the unpopularity » and sticks to his line of firmness in the face of overflows in the street.
During a 35-minute interview, the president tried to outline short-term prospects, but above all he once again had to plead for a “necessary” reform that he does not lead “for pleasure”.
“I have no regrets”, except for not “having succeeded in convincing people of the need” for the reform, he said. But “there are not 36 solutions” than to work more in the face of “all opposition”. The Head of State pinpoints the latter by saying that for them, “the project”, “is the deficit”.
Mr. Macron, who on Tuesday dismissed any immediate prospect of a reshuffle, dissolution or referendum, outlined the arguments deployed by his camp since the activation of 49.3 on this controversial reform and the motion of censure against his government which failed to nearly nine voices.
This reform was “enriched by parliamentarians”, “voted by the Senate” and “adopted by the Assembly following the use of article 49.3, and therefore by a vote of a motion of censure against the government which failed, ”argued Mr. Macron, pending the decision of the Constitutional Council.
“If we have to endorse unpopularity today, I will endorse it,” assumed the head of state, who went back on his statements the day before at the Elysée Palace in front of parliamentarians from his majority, on “the crowd” which has “no legitimacy in the face of the people who express themselves, sovereign, through their elected representatives”.
Capitol and Brasilia
Remarks which targeted the elected officials targeted by the violence, he assured Wednesday, citing the invasion of the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump and places of power in Brasilia by those of Jair Bolsonaro. “We cannot accept either the factious or the factions”, “we will not tolerate any overflow” in the face of “groups which use violence”, he hammered on Wednesday.
This outing had caused some embarrassment even within his camp. “I would not have said things like that”, had reacted in the morning Wednesday François Bayrou.
The word of Emmanuel Macron, withdrawn since January on this flagship file of his second five-year term which turned into a political crisis, was eagerly awaited, as demonstrations have multiplied since 49.3 and a new day of strikes and demonstrations are scheduled for Thursday by the inter-union.
On Wednesday, several blocking actions against the pension reform, affecting oil depots, ports, roads, the electricity sector and a university took place Wednesday morning across the country.
At service stations, the situation is deteriorating slightly, with 14.30% of stations in short supply of at least one type of fuel against 12% on Tuesday, and 7.13% are dry, against 6% on Tuesday.
“Co-construction” at the Assembly
On Wednesday morning, the A55 in the Fos-sur-Mer–Marseille direction was closed due to pallet fires. The port of Marseille-Fos was also totally blocked as part of a “dead ports” day at the call of the CGT, while punchy actions are also being carried out around the port area of Capécure, in Boulogne -on sea.
The Puget-sur-Agens oil depot (Var) is blocked by demonstrators, as are two roundabouts serving two oil depots north of Bordeaux.
The day before, new demonstrations in Paris or Nantes were interspersed with incidents. In total, from police sources, 128 arrests took place in France, including 81 in Paris. 61 police and gendarmes were injured.
In schools, the Snuipp-FSU, the leading union in nursery and elementary schools, provides between 40 and 50% of primary school teachers on strike Thursday.
Eager to get out of this retirement sequence, the president tried on Wednesday to give prospects. Charges Elisabeth Borne, in whom he has renewed his confidence, with “building a government program” likely to “expand” the relative majority in the Assembly, in a process of “co-construction of a parliamentary agenda with the ‘together of the forces of the two chambers’.
First change of agenda: the immigration bill, presented as the next victim of opposition in the Assembly, will be split into “several texts” in “the coming weeks”.
Mr. Macron also wants to “re-engage” a dialogue with the social partners on working conditions. But “we have to wait a few days, a few weeks”, he observed, while the unions, on Thursday, will beat the pavement again.