He takes the tide. At the time of beginning his speech, in introduction to the debate in the Assembly, last Monday, Olivier Dussopt, the minister in charge of pension reform, must face the immense bronca coming from the left. The desks slam, the deputies are standing, vindictive. At such times, standing on the rostrum is like being a sailor at the bow of his boat in the midst of a storm, who must face it. But Olivier Dussopt will have to give up this time. After refusing to do so, the president of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, was forced to suspend the session to try to calm things down.
The Minister of Labor ended up delivering his speech, but left some doubt about his ability to “hold” the Assembly in heavy weather. “He was nervous, not very comfortable, believes a socialist deputy. In general, he tries to display a technocratic phlegm, but there, we felt he was bored. “Not enough to undermine the confidence that the President of the Republic has in him. “We are lucky to have a courageous and competent minister”, declared Emmanuel Macron during the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, during a “personal and political” mark of support.
A “big worker” but “numbing”
In the majority too, we are “impressed”. Like Gilles Le Gendre, Renaissance (RE) deputy from Paris, who finds it “absolutely technically perfect. It’s impossible to pin him down. “He manages to provide all the necessary details to parliamentarians. In such a complex debate, it is important, ”adds RE MP for Marseille Lionel Royer-Perreaut. Horizon MP Paul Christophe is delighted with the work done upstream with the minister. And the socialists, who know Olivier Dussopt well since he sat in their ranks from 2007 to 2017, are obliged to recognize his skills. “He’s a hard worker, that’s his strength. But it is also anesthetic, it kills the debate”, analyzes a socialist deputy who has never rubbed shoulders with him on the benches of the Hemicycle.
“Frankly, we hardly understand what he is saying!, is almost offended by a Republican executive. This clearly reveals Macron’s structural weakness: he is alone in the desert. “It’s true that he’s not the most charismatic guy,” euphemizes a MoDem deputy. But that does not worry more than that in the majority. “He is good in his empathetic, gentle communication, believes an RE deputy from Ile-de-France. He is rarely arrogant, he is not someone who blows on the embers. “ “Do we have to speak the loudest to hold the house?, We are reassured in a ministry concerned by the pension reform. In a world of vociferations, his whispers are the best answer…”
The sprinkler watered
“He is strong, he is strong … Not that much, tempers another Nupes deputy. It is his disembodied verbiage that gives the impression that he is strong” Another added: “He is fragile on the starting point of the reform, on the idea that it is essential. We have to look for it on the ideological choice and its contradictions. His personal contradictions, in particular. Because thirteen years ago, then a young PS deputy, Olivier Dussopt strongly opposed the Woerth reform on retirement at 62. Lardi, during Questions to the government, the socialist deputy Iñaki Echaniz thus made a nice move by asking, without saying it, exactly the same question that the current Minister of Labor had asked in 2010 during the previous reform. The former socialist did not seem to notice before Echaniz clarified his move in his reply. “I can’t imagine that he doesn’t have remorse when he defends this reform, thinking of these past commitments”, wonders a socialist executive. But until then, it does not seem to weaken him: “he is not damaged by his past”, retorts a Macronist deputy from the Ile-de-France region already quoted. “The real betrayal is that of the PS”, outbids Gilles Le Gendre.
There is therefore his political career, but also business. Olivier Dussopt is accused of favoritism by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office in a public procurement case in his town of Annonay, in Ardèche. “Frankly, nobody talks about it,” sweeps Le Gendre. “Things are slipping on him in general, analyzes Arthur Delaporte, PS deputy from Calvados. In a normal government, in a normal country, it would make waves. But they have accustomed us to dealing with this type of case without consideration…”
“Anyway, we’re not going to change it now”, we quip in a ministry. Elsewhere in the government, one wonders all the same what deserves so much praise from the president, as France Info revealed on Thursday morning. The picture is not rosy: the reform is unpopular, and even more and more, the social movement has brought more people out into the streets than ever in thirty years… But the most likely thing is that the reform will pass . By a vote, by a 49.3 or by ordinances, the government has the cards in hand. Whether Olivier Dussopt is the man for the job or not.