“Spirit of harmony”: Emmanuel Macron wanted to project himself on Wednesday beyond the long-awaited decisions of the Constitutional Council on the pension reform, expected on Friday, by promising the unions an “exchange which will make it possible to initiate the continuation and to take into account "of the verdict of the Sages.
"The country must continue to move forward," said the head of state during a press conference in Amsterdam (Netherlands).
"I will engage, for all that concerns them, the social partners to be able to return - I know that the period will still bear the traces of the disagreements of the moment - but I will do it with the spirit of harmony and the will to engage the following, whatever the decision" of the Elders, he continued.
For the time being, all the spotlights remain on the discreet institution on rue de Montpensier in Paris, which must end the suspense on Friday "at the end of the day", the day after a twelfth day of mobilization. At the same time, Macron will hold a "coordination meeting" at the Élysée with majority leaders and key ministers.
Will the Elders censor reform? Only part? And will she give the green light to the procedure of a shared initiative referendum (RIP), dear to the left?
On Wednesday, the second day of his state visit to the Netherlands, Emmanuel Macron was again the target of opponents of the reform, while two demonstrators were arrested on his arrival at the University of Amsterdam.
Both supporters and opponents of the text mostly expect that at least some measures will be censured by the Constitutional Council, in particular the "seniors index", a new mandatory indicator to update the practices of large companies in terms of employment of workers over 55.
According to many observers, it could be qualified as a legislative "jumper", that is to say a measure having nothing to do with a budgetary text.
The rejection of measures of this type would be the lesser evil for the executive, for whom the essential thing is that the heart of the project be legally validated: the raising of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, which crystallizes and federates the dispute.
The decisions of the Constitutional Council come "to close a democratic and constitutional path", noted from Amsterdam Emmanuel Macron, while the spokesman of the government, Olivier Véran, had said a few hours earlier "confident" in the decision of the Elders .
“I have a fairly high degree of confidence that the entire procedure will not be canceled,” another member of the government said on Tuesday, in line with a prognosis widely shared within the presidential camp.
But "we must still be a little wary of Laurent Fabius", the former Socialist Prime Minister who chairs the Constitutional Council, tempers a Renaissance deputy.
Others note the presence among the Sages of Alain Juppé, who had to give up his pension reform in 1995 at the end of a major social conflict, or even of the former minister MoDem Jacqueline Gourault.
"We must think about the members of the Constitutional Council being truly totally detached, totally independent in their appointment", commented Marine Le Pen (RN) on Wednesday.
And, even if the reform is validated, "it takes nothing away from democratic rejection, political rejection, social rejection", warned Manon Aubry, LFI MEP.
The left is also pinning its hopes on a possible green light to its request for RIP: this procedure could pave the way for a referendum on a bill aimed at ensuring that the retirement age cannot exceed 62 years. If the government "passes in force and does not suspend the reform during the time of the referendum, then it would be a declaration of war for many people", warned the national secretary of EELV Marine Tondelier.
The number one of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, has also suggested that in the event of partial censorship of the text by the Elders, the President of the Republic takes up Article 10 of the Constitution which would make it possible to "move towards a new reading in the National Assembly" before a promulgation.
Would full validation instead signal the end of the protest movement? "We will decide it together", with the inter-union, "but it is clear that the CFDT will not hold demonstrations for six months", replied the secretary general.
04/12/2023 21:59:59 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
