why Laurent Wauquiez's announcement irritates the government camp

The announcement by Laurent Wauquiez on 8 p.m. on TF1 of an agreement reached with Michel Barnier on the increase in pensions took his partners in Parliament by surprise.

Before the deputies on Tuesday, November 12, Prime Minister Michel Barnier confirmed that pensions will be partially revalued in January to the tune of half the inflation on January 1 for all retirees with a second revaluation in July for pensions below the minimum wage. . The president of the Republican Right group in the National Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, had already announced the day before that he had found a compromise with the government so that “all retreats” are revalued.

The victory displayed by Laurent Wauquiez on TF1 quite annoyed the Macronist deputies. “It wasn’t up to Wauquiez to announce it”enraged elected officials who found his attitude scandalous. What also irritated them was that the boss of the Republican Right group took the opportunity to scratch his allies, by judging “unacceptable for retirees to pay the price of those who have spent lavishly”. In short: the Macronists in power for seven years.

For Laurent Wauquiez, it is a question of appearing as the defender of retirees, in order to reap political gains from this electorate. He had refused the (complicated) position of Minister of the Economy and is therefore less in the limelight than Bruno Retailleau at the Ministry of the Interior. He therefore seeks to exist differently. If the Macronists look gloomy, the Republicans are rubbing their hands at this victory because, in their constituencies, the pension freeze went very badly.

But paradoxically, if the Macronists are indignant about the form, they want to put the substance into perspective. For Gabriel Attal and his deputies, Laurent Wauquiez obtained a half-victory: a lower freeze than initially expected. Now the war goal of the Macronists is to obtain a victory on employer contributions. If the discussions lead to a compromise on this subject very dear to Gabriel Attal's group, the former Prime Minister will be able to announce it as he sees fit. Even if Laurent Wauquiez will remain the one who had good news to announce first.