The questioning of the pension reform is a “red line” for the Macronists, according to the EPR (Ensemble pour la République) deputy Sylvain Maillard, while this issue is a sticking point for the appointment of the new Prime Minister.
“We have always said it, it is a red line for us and it is not a pleasure to do it (…), we have no other way than to work a little more”, assured the former president of the Macronist group in the National Assembly on Franceinfo.
“It’s not out of a light heart, it’s because there is no choice. Anyone who wants to do otherwise is leading France and the French economy into a wall,” added the Paris MP.
“The new Prime Minister will have to build a majority coalition with parliamentarians. I will oppose any removal of the pension reform or the immigration law,” added another Macronist MP, Benjamin Haddad, on France 2.
“Repealing the pension reform would cause budgetary chaos,” said a third, Charles Rodwell.
Hated by the left and the unions, the pension reform pushes back the legal retirement age to 64 and is a totem of the second five-year term which has cost Emmanuel Macron months of social and political crisis, an image lastingly tarnished by the forced passage via a 49.3 in the Assembly and a persistent feeling of injustice in public opinion.
These positions come at a time when certain voices in the central bloc had shown openness on this point in favour of the hypothesis of a centre-left Prime Minister like Bernard Cazeneuve.
François Bayrou said on Sunday that he was “convinced” that it is possible to “find a better balance” and to “look for better adjustments” on pensions.
The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, also stated on Sunday that she was “not closing the door” to adjustments, even saying she was “very much in favour” of “re-discussing a certain number of points” such as hardship or gender inequalities.
The repeal of the pension reform is at the heart of the New Popular Front’s programme.
The leader of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure said on Monday that he was ready to make “compromises” with the other political forces, apart from the repeal of the pension reform.
If Bernard Cazeneuve obtains it (the repeal), “then I will think about it”, he also declared about the hypothesis of the nomination of the former socialist as Prime Minister.
far/hr/bow
