Elisabeth Borne will receive politicians, employers and trade unions on Wednesday, on the eve of a new day of mobilization.
Two rooms, two atmospheres. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will increase meetings with political leaders and trade unions and employers’ organizations in early April, a few days before the 11th day of mobilization against the pension reform, Thursday, April 6.
>> Pension reform: follow the latest information in our live
These meetings will be held while renewable strikes are still disrupting certain sectors and all parties are suspended from the decisions of the Constitutional Council on the reform, expected in mid-April. Franceinfo takes stock of the upcoming meetings for the next fortnight.
From April 3: sectors still on strike
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) on Friday asked airlines to give up 20% of their flights on Monday and Tuesday at certain airports, due to the continuation of the strike by air traffic controllers against the pension reform. These preventive cancellations, required for the 15th and 16th consecutive days, will concern 20% of Monday and Tuesday flights to Marseille and Bordeaux. Paris-Orly will also be affected on Tuesday in the same proportion, said the DGAC in a press release.
In addition, activity continues to be disrupted in the refinery sector, notes France Bleu. Ihe strike started on March 7 at the TotalEnergies refinery in Donges (Loire-Atlantique), was notably renewed for a fifth consecutive week on this site, reports France 3 Pays de la Loire.
Between Monday April 3 and Wednesday April 5: Elisabeth Borne receives political leaders
Elisabeth Borne receives from Monday the parliamentary groups and parties with the aim “to appease the country” And of “dialogue with all the actors on the method”after the adoption of the pension reform, learned franceinfo.
The group of Liot deputies, at the origin of the motion of censure which almost overthrew the government, accepted the appointment at Matignon. Its president, Bertrand Pancher, will be received Monday at 4:30 p.m., announces the group. Earlier in the day, Elisabeth Borne will meet at 1:30 p.m. with the presidents of the Union Centriste group in the National Assembly and the Senate, Valérie Létard and Hervé Marseille, at 2:30 p.m. with the president of the Rassemblement Démocratique et Social Européen group in the Senate, Jean-Claude Requier, then at 3:30 p.m. with the president of the Radical Party, Laurent Hénart.
The Republicans’ turn will arrive on Wednesday evening. The president of the party, Eric Ciotti, as well as the presidents of the group in the National Assembly and the Senate, Olivier Marleix and Bruno Retailleau, will be received at 7:30 p.m. The deputy of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, will also be received at Matignon, but a week later, on April 11, assures those around her at franceinfo.
On the other hand, the ecologists, the rebellious and the communists announced that they would not respond to the invitation of the Prime Minister. To want “turn the page” seems “above ground and disconnected from the state of nerves” of the French, while opposition to the pension reform is still very strong, believes thea leader of the EELV party, Marine Tondelieraccording to whom “the country is not ready for it and neither are we”, with the AFP. “We are not going to participate in this kind of political illusion”, also reacted Eric Coquerel on franceinfo, Sunday. For the rebellious deputy, “we can’t discuss” other topics “as long as the pension reform is not withdrawn”. “We ask to be received by the President of the Republic. It is urgent that he act!”commented the national secretary of the PCF, Fabien Roussel.
On the side of the Socialist Party (PS), which made its decision known at the end of the day on Sunday, there is also no question of going to the invitation of Elisabeth Borne. “We do not wish to participate in any consultation on the follow-up to the parliamentary calendar (…) before knowing the follow-up given to your meeting with the inter-union scheduled for April 5, on the eve of an eleventh day of mobilization” against the reform, write in a letter to the Prime Minister the first secretary of the party, Olivier Faure, and the presidents of the PS group in the National Assembly and the Senate, Boris Vallaud and Patrick Kanner.
Wednesday April 5: Elisabeth Borne meets with trade unions and employers’ organizations
The inter-union, including the CGT and its new boss, Sophie Binet, agreed to meet Elisabeth Borne at Matignon on Wednesday, after deploring that the executive has remained silent at their invitations in recent weeks. The pension reform will be “obviously” addressed by the unions during this face-to-face, assured Matignon, after contradictory sounds were heard about the menu of the discussion.
But the head of government still refuses to put “on break” the text – a proposal formulated by the boss of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, who wants a “mediation”. The government spokesman also opposed him an end of inadmissibility on this point. “If there is no break, it means that there will be dissatisfaction on the union side and that it will fuel the demonstrations the next day”estimated on Saturday on franceinfo Jean-Claude Mailly, former secretary general of Force Ouvrière.
Moreover, the decline in the legal age to 64 remains a red line for both parties. On the one hand, the unions absolutely want to debate this measure; on the other, the government refuses to give it up, since it constitutes the heart of the reform. On the other hand, the executive wishes to address the question of work more broadly, and in particular the “distribution of value within the company”, “career endings”, “small wages below the minimum wage”, according to the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, at the end of the last Council of Ministers.
The main employers’ organisations, in favor of the reform, will also be received on Wednesday at Matignon. The Medef and the Confederation of SMEs have confirmed their presence.
Thursday April 6: 11th day of mobilization
A new day of union mobilization against the pension reform is scheduled for Thursday, April 6. This 11th day comes after a drop in mobilization, at the end of March, during the previous event. Between 740,000 people, according to the Ministry of the Interior, and “more than 2 million”according to the CGT, had then paraded throughout France.
“We must not give the spectacle of a progressive etiolation of the fight”, warned Thursday Jean-Luc Mélenchon on his YouTube channelhoping that the mobilization of April 6 will be accompanied by a “general strike”.
Friday April 14: the Constitutional Council delivers its decisions
The constitutionnal Council will make its decisions on the text on April 14, the Elders announced. They will deliberate on THE shared initiative referendum (RIP), carried by 252 parliamentarians, which aims to question the French on the possibility of pushing back the legal retirement age beyond 62 years. They will also position themselves “on the amending Social Security financing law for 2023”, says their press release. The members of the Constitutional Council may decide to validate the entire text or to censor all or part of it.
>> Pension reform: on what grounds could the Constitutional Council censure provisions of the text?
Opposition parliamentarians denounce in particular the use of an amending budget for Social Security and the review deadlines imposed by Article 47.1 of the Constitution. They believe that the procedure “urgent” been “diverted”. These parliamentarians also raise the issue of the senior index in companies, a “legislative rider” which would not have its place in a budgetary text in their eyes.
Regarding the request for RIP, the Council must check its admissibility, by looking at whether the consultation relates to the areas of “the organization of public authorities, reforms relating to economic, social or environmental policy and to the public services which contribute thereto”.