In the greatest secrecy, a man is received at the Elysée. No one has an interest in divulging the interview. This December 7, 2022, Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, erected in recent months as a key protagonist of the pension reform, goes to rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, the day before his official meeting with the Prime Minister , Elisabeth Borne. A week before the initial date of the presentation of the project, finally postponed to January 10, Emmanuel Macron has decided to take matters into his own hands: he is still counting on the support of the reformist union. “I am an optimistsaid the head of state to the press at the beginning of September. There is no political force that can free itself from reality. I believe in the virtue of truth. I also believe in the history of this union and in the strength of pedagogy. »
Alas, during this face-to-face remained confidential, Laurent Berger does not flinch more than in public. The trade unionist repeats to the President of the Republic, eye to eye, that he has always been against a decline in the retirement age. As well as the CFDT. The two personalities, whose relationship is already electric, begin a dialogue of the deaf. “We have two different conceptions, which have nothing to do, of social democracy, the place of trade unionism, the distribution of efforts in our country and aid to the most vulnerable”explains Laurent Berger at World. “Between them, it does not work. They come from two worlds so far apart”observes Aurore Bergé, president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, who closely attended the gestation of the reform.
A few hours later, that same day, Emmanuel Macron brings together the leaders of the majority during a dinner, where he again defends retirement at 65, against 62 today. But the president is still trying to put pressure on the media: he will agree to amend his project in favor of 64-year-olds, accompanied by an extension of the contribution period faster than provided for by the Touraine reform, if the reformists recognize the concession. . At Matignon, we summarize this outstretched hand by: “a move against a move”.
Wasted effort. The merry-go-round has the gift of ulcerating the first targeted by the maneuver. During a telephone conversation in December 2022 with the Minister of the Public Service, Stanislas Guérini, the union leader did not hide his annoyance at these expectations which, he knows, will not be met. Are we expecting him to betray his base?
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