At the end of a Franco-German Council of Ministers held at the Élysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a joint press conference. The President of the Republic was questioned by BFMTV about the future of his pension reform project, which is highly contested in public opinion.
After the Franco-German Council of Ministers celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty this Sunday, Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholf both presented themselves to the press. But the Head of State was quickly confronted with national news.
On the eve of the presentation of the pension reform project in the Council of Ministers, the President of the Republic had to decide on the opposition aroused by the text in public opinion – after the first two days of mobilization on Thursday and Saturday -, and on the possibility of amending it. Without revealing himself too much, he asserted his “desire to convince and move the country forward”.
“There has already been an opening a change”
Asked by BFMTV about the possibility of seeing him reconsider the decision crystallizing the dissatisfaction of many French people – the postponement of the retirement age to 64 years – he replied as follows:
“We know our needs. They are known: my mandate was to raise the retirement age to 65 by 2031. (…) There has already been an opening, a change. There must move forward and commit, with the desire to convince and move the country forward”.
Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that his re-election legitimized this flagship proposal within his program. “I believe in collective and individual mandates and responsibility,” he said.
A democratic life in “several times”
However, he described the timetable ahead, seeming open to the idea of an evolution of the current text: “There is a time in our democratic lives to go to elections where we define a mandate, then a time where we negotiate – which made it possible to enrich, to complete this project with very social aspects, mechanisms of redistribution”.
“There is a political time opening up in the National Assembly. It must be respected so that parliamentarians can work on the text and adjust it,” he added.
In The Parisian published this Sunday, Gabriel Attal had already delivered the trailer for the presidential speech. The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts had indeed assured: “I respect the upcoming parliamentary debate. On all subjects, we are open to enrichments”.
Emmanuel Macron also approached the subject of the demonstrations more directly but with caution: “And there is the possibility of demonstrating, of expressing one’s dissatisfaction, it is democratic life and it is a good thing. I wish that it follows its course and I hope that it will follow it in a peaceful way, with the least possible nuisance for our contemporaries”.
