She climbed onto the dais to the cheers of the crowd of activists. Closed smile, uncomfortable to be acclaimed in this way. This Saturday, September 17, Elisabeth Borne speaks in the basement of the Carrousel du Louvre, in Paris, for the founding congress of Renaissance, the presidential party. The Prime Minister blends into this very political role that now falls to her. With a clenched fist, she launches into a plea for progress and a eulogy to audacity in the face of the climate crisis, which she considers to be the first of the storms.
Suddenly, the microphone goes off. Annoyed, she taps on the table, smiles, but grows impatient, hands on hips. After long minutes, she resumes her speech, a bit annoyed: “We will try again… There was a thread in that comment. » Its thread is the unity of its majority. “Exceeding, I believe in it personally and I will be the guarantor, she promises. I was an engineer, prefect, business manager. I believe in results, not labels. »
In the front row, Bruno Le Maire, the all-powerful Minister of the Economy, who came reluctantly to this partisan high mass, nods. Like his interior colleague, Gérald Darmanin. The two heavyweights of the government, who do not mask great ambitions, had to resign themselves. They have to come to terms with the one a minister now calls « Queen B ». A little more than four months after her appointment as head of government, the rigid-looking polytechnician, whom her critics had nicknamed “Plan B” to say that she was a second choice of Emmanuel Macron, settled in his role. Without dressing up.
Officially responsible for the thorny pension reform, Elisabeth Borne is trying to slow down. She who tirelessly advocates “compromise method” is hardly comfortable with the idea of legislating by means of an amendment to the Social Security financing bill, as mentioned by the Head of State on 12 September.
Have all the cards in hand before deciding
To the point that François Bayrou, who is alarmed, in The Parisian of September 18, of a “forced passage” of the reform, believes to see in it an ally. The boss of the Modem, sorry for not having been able to speak at the Renaissance congress, threatens to shatter the displayed unity of the presidential coalition. Tuesday, September 20, the leader of centrist deputies, Jean-Paul Mattei, warned that the MoDem group would vote ” definitely ” against such an amendment. Emmanuel Macron’s ally “will not be able to accept a reform” carried out in this way, he said, asking to wait.
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