How to successfully push through pension reform without months of strikes? In the majority, the question must be spinning in many heads. Nicolas Sarkozy, he decided to speak in the columns of Le Figaro to tell how he succeeded, with his government, in carrying out "his" reform, in 2010.
At the time, reform was not on his 2007 program. It was the subprime crisis in 2008 that prompted him to modify pension plans. "We understand that the debt will grow far beyond what we had anticipated, not only because of collapsing economies, but mainly because we felt that the growth we were anticipating to reduce deficits would not have location. So there wouldn't be as many job creations as we had hoped," he said.
Big difference with 2023: at the time, 54% of right-wing sympathizers are in favor of the reform. By putting part of France on the street, the then president also put the voters of his camp back in his pocket, while his popularity rating peaked at a low 33%.
The one who no longer hides his closeness to Emmanuel Macron, and who has been disowned by some of the Republicans, is surprised that the LRs are not unanimous for the pension reform of the Borne government.
“LR campaigned during the 2022 presidential election by defending the retirement at 65 of Valérie Pécresse. The right should take into account the fights that have been its own. She should remember that popular France is for work. Even when you have the opposite impression reading the polls. »
Nicolas Sarkozy takes the opportunity to slip a piece of advice to his successor: "The more you negotiate, the more you mobilize the left, which thinks you are going to give in, and the more you demobilize the right, which no longer understands what you want to do. There was nothing to negotiate. We just had to listen and inform. By transposing the experience to 2023, the current majority has reason to worry: without the support of the right, the reform can fall apart.
