You had to convince to train, but the “pedagogy” operation does not seem to work. The executive is losing the battle of opinion on the pension reform. The unions have thought so since the first day of mobilization, on January 19, which brought together more than a million people in the depths of the territories, in medium-sized towns.
The polls show it from week to week: the opposition of the French continues to grow. Thus, 72% declare themselves “opposites” to the government’s plan, ie an increase of 6 points in one week, and 13 points in two weeks, according to a poll by the Elabe institute published on 25th January (1). Among them, a contingent of 40% is “very opposite”, with a jump of 18 points in two weeks. Another alert: the executive is losing the support of retirees, among whom opponents of the reform become ” for the first time “ majority (59%, +13), while they constitute, with the executives, the hard core of the electorate of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron.
The postponement of the retirement age to 64 years “is no longer negotiable”
“I don’t ignore the social movement”, assured Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, during her wishes to the press on January 23, but the postponement of the retirement age “is no longer negotiable”, she hammered Sunday January 29 on Franceinfo. In fact, the hostility of the French is above all motivated, at 84% according to Elabe, by the ” contents “ even of the reform, 79% rejecting in the first place the decline in the legal age of retirement to 64 years. And the list of grievances is not over: 74% (+ 10 points in one week) consider the reform “unfair”62 % (+ 5) “ineffective in ensuring the sustainability of the pension system”et 54 % (+ 1) ” not necessary “.
The government has tried to push the argument on “a project of justice” et “promoter of social progress”, he got the opposite effect: questions about measures that would not be fair, especially the situation of women. A point on which the Minister Delegate in charge of relations with Parliament, Franck Riester, has also put the presidential camp in difficulty.
In the ranks of the majority as of the opposition, an expression then returns with insistence: “The devil is in the details” of this complex reform. “We tracked down injustices down to the smallest detail”, defends herself, however, Elisabeth Borne. But the adjustments made in the drafting of the bill, or to come in the parliamentary discussion, do not convince the French either.
“Everyone is against it, it’s classic, but it will be voted on”
This is the reason why the approval of the mobilization is also progressing (64%, + 8 points in one week), before the new day of strikes and demonstrations, Tuesday January 31. In addition, 57% of French people (+2) “would understand that the strikers are blocking the country, because it is the only way for the government to withdraw or modify its pension reform”. This constitutes another element of concern for the executive, which bet on the weariness of the French, monopolized by their daily realities, or their hostility to a hardening of the dispute.
But, 71% of those questioned thinking that the pension reform will be voted on and applied, the government can still count on a share of public fatigue. “Everyone is against in the polls, it’s classic, but also knows that it will be voted on”noted an opposition parliamentarian, who “for the moment does not feel a social aggregate” to go beyond the trade union response.
“The main people responsible for the reform will not be the government, it will not be the parliamentarians, it will be public opinion”, warned the president of the MoDem François Bayrou, during his vows on January 25, at the risk of upsetting his presidential ally. Before adding: “I have often said: ‘We don’t make reforms against the people.’We can make reforms, if the people who are not happy understand them nevertheless. »