The first secretary of the socialist party was the guest of “8:30 franceinfo”, Tuesday March 28.
Olivier Faure, first secretary of the socialist party, was the guest of the 8:30 a.m. france infoTuesday March 28, 2023. He answered questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Pension reform: “I am not saying anything to a Constitutional Council which is supposed to be completely independent, but it has every reason to invalidate this project”
While opponents of the pension reform meet for a tenth day of mobilization everywhere in France this Tuesday, the reform is currently being examined by the Constitutional Council which will make its decision within three weeks. “I say nothing to a Constitutional Council which is supposed to be totally independent, but it has every reason to invalidate this project“, developed Olivier Faure. However, in the event of validation of the text by the Sages, “everyone will accept the decision, including La France insoumise (LFI)“, assured the number one of the PS.
Olivier Faure clarified that he preferred the referendum option in order to settle the question of pensions. “When the president does not want to decide a question and does not want to back down by withdrawal [de la réforme des retraites], well that supposes that we give the floor to the French women and men“, he explained. “I would prefer that the President of the Republic admit the fact that there is a deadlock in the country because he himself led to this impasse. And so, to break the impasse, a referendum is needed. That the French can seize this question and say yes or no for the reform at 64 years old“, he added.
Olivier Faure also assured that he had “not afraid of a dissolution” of the National Assembly, despite the Ifop/Fiducial poll for the JDD And South Radiopublished on Sunday, and which gives 26% of the votes to the National Rally in the event of new legislative elections.
Violence on the sidelines of the demonstrations: “Obviously, there is today a problem of maintaining order”
“Clearly, today there is a problem of policing“, he claimed. “It’s not me who says it, it’s the Council of Europe, the Defender of Rights, it’s Amnesty, it’s the League of Human Rights. These are all those who are today attentive observers of what is happening in France and who denounce a practice that is outrageous“, he explained.
After the demonstrations against the pension reform of March 23 which were peppered with violent incidents, with 457 arrests and 441 police officers and gendarmes injured, tensions moved on Saturday to Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) for a demonstration against the basins, where two demonstrators are this Tuesday between life and death. “I condemn all violence and wherever it comes from“, he recalled. “There are always people who are there to fight it out“, according to Olivier Faure for whom “the breakers had been subdued until then“.”What I blame the government for is having carried out all-out arrests, we hit the bullseye“, he lamented.
Megabasins: “What is needed is a change in the agricultural model”
Asked about the “basins”, these vast reservoirs dedicated to the irrigation of crops and contested by ecologists and a parity of the agricultural world, Olivier Faure considered that “there needs to be a change in the agricultural model“.”There is a form of water privatization since it is 4 to 5% of farmers who will benefit from these basins“, he elaborated. “On the sums that are poured into these two large basinss” in the department of Deux-Sèvres, “well, you have a very small, tiny drop that goes to transformation towards agroecology, organic farming, etc.“, he insisted.
For the boss of the PS, it is appropriate to “close“the basins that were built illegally. He also calls on the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to “enforce the right and the law by going to close these basins which are illegal“. Justice refused the filling of five basins to 13 farmers, pointing in particular to the lack of precision as to the consequences on groundwater and rivers.
Partial legislative in Ariège: “Only the union (of the left) allows victory”
“All those who are against Nupes“, do not support Bénédicte Taurine, the labeled candidate of the left alliance (LFI, PS, PCF and EELV) opposed to the dissident socialist Martine Froger in the second round of the partial legislative election in Ariège, underlined the number one of the Socialist Party, targeting in particular its vice-president Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. The mayor of Rouen “frees himself from all the commitments he may have made“after the national congress of the Socialist Party, explained Olivier Faure. For the first secretary of the PS, “only unity allows victory“.
The opportunity for him to project himself until the presidential election of 2027. “When you don’t have the rally, you have the defeat at the end and I don’t want the defeat anymore“, he insisted. “I don’t want to leave power to Marine Le Pen in four years. I fight every day for the left to be there in 2027.“