Questioned on BFMTV, the former President of the Republic and current PS deputy for Corrèze hoped that the new government of François Bayrou would convene “a social conference, with the social partners, to re-discuss a certain number of parameters of this reform” pensions.
“Then, it will be in 2027 that the question of pensions will be raised again. The only method that I know at this stage is not to demand a repeal (…) There must be – a suspension perhaps – but a social conference which will make it possible to improve the fate of the French who will prepare in a few months to retire,” he explained.
If we pose the repeal as a reason justifying censorship, “effectively the censorship is mechanical, since the government does not want to take this path,” explained François Hollande.
The First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure had already spoken out in favor of “a freeze” of the pension reform, and no longer an immediate repeal, to first organize “a financing conference” allowing a future repeal.
More tax justice
Mr. Hollande also mentioned as subjects of possible negotiations with the government his refusal to eliminate 4,000 positions in National Education, the question of medical reimbursements, “the evolution of voting methods”, in an allusion to proportional representation, and an evolution of the budget towards more “tax justice”.
He also considered it “unacceptable” to include in a new immigration law the measures censored by the Constitutional Council in the previous one.
Asked about the retention of the very right-wing Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, he said he did not want to judge “the people” but “the actions”.
He also distanced himself from the demand of the PS, the PCF and environmentalists that the government renounce 49.3 in exchange for non-censorship.
“Better to avoid 49.3, let the discussion go to the end. But we must handle this argument with caution, because it would mean, if we say that we do not use 49.3, that the socialists would have to adopt the budget or abstain on the budget. And if they don't agree, what do they do? “, he asked.
The former president also hoped that François Bayrou would have a form of “freedom” and “independence” vis-à-vis Emmanuel Macron, taking into account the “conditions in which he was appointed”, “since the president (y) was undoubtedly forced.”
