Pension reform: the options left to Emmanuel Macron

The Head of State is in a hurry. He obviously believes that he has been patient enough and therefore intends to carry out the pension reform that he took the time to announce during the previous presidential campaign. Emmanuel Macron has however revealed nothing (or almost) of the content of his project and remains particularly vague on the voting methods, as Le Monde recalls on its site, but that does not prevent it! There is no longer any time to wait, it seems. This precipitation, continues the evening daily, considerably tenses his own camp.

It is that, said the Head of State, the pension reform is one of these transformations which are imposed on French men and women. It is necessary, he insists, to “work longer in a nation where people live longer and return to working life later on average”. Since the announcement of the creation of the National Council for Refoundation, the majority has pretended to seek compromise and consensus. However, this is another signal that the Elysée tenant seems to be sending today. Because the politico-social situation will not be easier in a few months, he asserts, and because he does not believe there is an ideal moment to legislate, he harbors the ambition to reform now.

If he actually intends to carry out his pension reform, Emmanuel Macron has several options. He can :

“All avenues” are being studied, explained Olivier Véran, government spokesperson, after the Council of Ministers on Wednesday September 14, 2022. Ideally, the majority hope to move on to offensive quickly: it has planned a consultation from Monday, September 19. Announced goal? A review of the bill this fall.

This idea, informs BFMTV on its site, annoys a lot on the left as on the right. For some elected leftists, like François Ruffin, this kind of maneuver is dangerous in addition to being “stupid”. “Do not believe that, by acting like this, outside of democracy, we do not sharpen the feeling of injustice a little more, we do not feed resentment underground”, he asserts in a column published on Mediapart. An opinion that visibly shares all or part of the right of LR, according to Aurélien Pradié, who denounces an “unbearable method”. “It’s a strategic question for the lives of the French!”, He asserts, believing that such debates “cannot be done on a corner of the table”.

Any forced passage could prove complex for the Head of State, in that it could turn against him, particularly in the context of the use of 49-3, believes political scientist Raul Magni-Berton. It is a lose-lose situation according to him, since in case of failure, the government can be overthrown. On the other hand, the president can then brandish the threat of a dissolution of the National Assembly.

The street could also constitute a significant obstacle, as evidenced by the mobilizations that occurred in the previous five-year period and which finally, coupled with the beginnings of the health crisis, pushed the government to reconsider its position. For his part, the boss of the CGT has already announced two days of mobilization this month.