A small crowd of curious silencers gathered to see Emmanuel Macron cut the tricolor ribbon at the Agricultural Show. It is nearly 9:30 a.m. this Saturday, February 25, in the morning, when the president arrives. A lady applauds. Calm reigns so much that you can clearly hear this “no to pensions” being heard in Hall 1! Three more placards emerge from the crowd: “Metro, job, cellar! », « 64 years old is dead! », « I am 64 years old and I am already broken! They end up torn in the hands of security; the protesters – militants of the Collective Ibiza – as soon as dismissed.
And then, nothing more… For a good while, the president satisfied the curious and greedy fans of selfies. “The atmosphere is not bad, but as soon as there is a head that exceeds, we exfiltrate it. Security level, they are tense”, observes a member of the small troop who accompanies him. At the microphones which stretch out and question him, the president insists that it is necessary to “save the pay-as-you-go system”.
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“We are counting on you so that there is no disagreement between the important ones and us. We are with you, ”says a farmer, father of a family. Another asks him to keep his word on the retirement of farmers. “Farmers tell me thank you for having abolished the special diets”, advances the president. As an aside, he points out: “They don’t talk to me that much about pensions! »
However, the subject returned to the bays during the afternoon. To a woman, who challenges him, he launches again: “How do we finance, if we don’t work more? Should pensions be lowered? Increase pensions? Putting back the “ISF” proclaims later, like a response from a distance, a voice in the crowd. Then, at the very end of the day, a new exchange. A nurse questions the president: “Do you want a 64-year-old nurse at the hospital? The conversation begins, the president praises the minimum pension that his reform increases. The nurse: “you don’t put it at 1,200 euros”. Emmanuel Macron: “it’s 85% of the minimum wage (…) 1,200 euros for everyone it’s not possible, there are people who have full careers, others don’t”. Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the visit, loose: “I know that we will continue to have disputes. But here, I did not find anger but concern and that is also what is expressed in the demonstrations. »