Voting for pension reform is “not support for the government”, assured Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday towards the right that she wants to convince to approve her highly contested project.
“You will (…) be led to express your views on the pension reform. Not on support for the government, but on this project, on this project only”, declared the Prime Minister before the National Assembly, during the session of questions to the government, hammering in an anaphora that “a majority exists” for vote on the text.
This majority “believes in work, including the work of seniors”, “believes in the pay-as-you-go pension system and wants to guarantee our young people that they will benefit from it”, “refuses to finance pensions through more taxes, more charges and fewer pensions”, she notably listed. Facing the hemicycle, Elisabeth Borne affirmed again that this reform will allow those who “have been worn out by work to retire earlier”.
“The door of government remains open”
The head of government also addressed the deputies of Nupes, affirming that “the door of the government, that of the Minister of Labour, remains[ait] naturally open to receive the intersyndicale if it wishes”.
In response to André Chassaigne, deputy, president of the communist group GDR, who accused the government of “passing by force”, Elisabeth Borne accused him of being complicit in a “global blocking strategy” with Nupes, which aims to “prevent discussion and voting”. “You are calling for respect for parliament, but assume that it is you, for weeks, who have opposed the legitimacy of the street to that of parliament,” she said.
By recalling the organization of the joint joint committee this Wednesday, March 15, the Prime Minister then invited the deputies to express themselves on the reform in the coming days. “With my government, we are fully committed so that in the coming days, a majority will vote for pension reform,” she finally concluded.