A new advance, for what result? The new concession made this Tuesday, February 14 by Elisabeth Borne to the Republicans (LR) on long careers opens the way to a dubbing of the pension reform by a majority of right-wing deputies, today divided on the text. But technical details with a political flavor remain to be settled between the executive and LR. The devil is always in the details.
Pushed by the deputy of Lot Aurélien Pradié, the right insists that employees eligible for the device of “long careers” can leave after 43 years of contribution, and not 44 for some of them. This request was formalized this Tuesday morning during a vote by the Political Bureau of LR, the party’s governing body. During Questions to the government (QAG), the deputy of Orne Véronique Louwagie questions the executive about the situation of these early workers. Within the executive, it is decided that Elisabeth Borne will respond in person to this parliamentarian open to compromise and respected for her seriousness. “Louwagie, we cajole her”, blows a weighty minister.
Especially when you have an offer to make. The Prime Minister announces that employees eligible for the long career scheme, i.e. those who started working before the age of 21, will not have to contribute over the age of 43 to retire, once they have reached the required early departure age. “A great step forward”, welcomes Véronique Louwagie. At 4:30 p.m., the boss of LR Eric Ciotti relays on the WhatsApp loop of LR deputies the AFP dispatch relating to the announcements of the head of government. The Niçois can smile. The subject of long careers has become over the weeks a red line for Aurélien Pradié and his relatives, such as the elected official of Pas-de-Calais Pierre-Henri Dumont. “I no longer see what can block them now”, smiles the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Pauget.
Valentine’s Day Miracle? Not yet. After the government’s announcement, Aurélien Pradié asked Elisabeth Borne on Twitter to remove “the little blurs and the big ambiguities” around these announcements. “All long-career workers will leave well after 43 annuities? Those who start between 17 and 20 years old, that’s clear. And our apprentices who start at 16 years old? […] Those who will have started at 18, in a long career, will retire well from 43 annuities of contribution?”, Writes number 2 of LR in a flurry of tweets.
“I am a purist in the conditions that we have set. We are not going to be convinced by little bits of sugar”, assures the executive vice-president of LR. At 7 p.m., he questions the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt on the subject in session. Which kicks in touch: “This is a decree. […] Each political group wishing to do so will be associated with its drafting.
Room of the Four Columns, the LR deputies make the exegesis of the announcement of the head of government, even if it means drowning in the technique. Despite these doubts, a new step has been taken with a view to reaching an agreement with the executive. Not all LR deputies will vote for the text. Several elected officials, often from rural or popular constituencies, do not want to offer a political victory to Emmanuel Macron. But this new concession is likely to tip undecided elected officials in search of social progress. “It will pass”, we believe in the direction of the group. Before Elisabeth Borne’s announcement, she judged that two thirds of LR elected officials were ready to vote for the text.
This draft compromise took root on Tuesday morning. Meeting in the political bureau, the party leadership had defined a common position on pensions. With 70 votes in favor and 8 abstentions, the movement’s leadership supported a reform “bringing the legal retirement age to 64 and the number of annuities required to 43”. Aurélien Pradié abstained, judging that a “BP should not give voting instructions to deputies”. “It does not exhaust the subject, but it stops a written position that can be brandished on television sets. It’s good to take”, noted this morning a manager.
In front of his peers, Eric Ciotti recalled the importance of being audible, while the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau praised a reform in the DNA of the right. “We must not align ourselves with the positions of Le Pen and Mélenchon. This is not social Gaullism”, explained in substance the president of the LR group to the Assembly Olivier Marleix, in a more offensive tone. Other speakers delivered a similar message. Rachida Dati then asked that Aurélien Pradié and Xavier Bertrand speak, they who are in the minority in the instance. The first recalled his conditions, when the boss of Hauts-de-France warned against a “liar” government.
The negotiation between Matignon and LR could well give birth to a compromise. But this sequence brings to light the contradictions of the right. On the one hand, a leadership anxious to preserve its reformist image. On the other, deputies elected in popular lands sometimes hermetic to this discourse. Here, a right from above which wants to recover in its nets the electorate who has gone to Emmanuel Macron. There, some deputies wishing in priority to conquer a popular electorate reluctant to the liberal doxa. “We need both, judge the mayor of Le Touquet Daniel Fasquelle. We must hear these deputies but they must understand that to win, we must also win constituencies with different sociological profiles.” Agreeing with yourself is sometimes harder than negotiating with your opponent.
