Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, during a meeting with the leaders of the presidential majority and the tenors of the government gathered at the Elysée, that he wanted to “continue to reach out” to the unions. In this same meeting, the president targeted the left opposition: “there is a real political project led by rebellious France which is trying to delegitimize the reasonable order, our institutions”.
“We must continue to reach out to the union forces,” he said, on the eve of a tenth day of mobilization against the pension reform, according to comments reported by a participant in the meeting. The secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger called on the executive to “pause” the pension reform project for six months and to return to the path of dialogue.
‘Condemn the violence’
“The de facto text is on pause” for the time of its examination, by the end of April, by the Constitutional Council, underlined the participating source. “The idea would be to use this time and take advantage of it to discuss all the other subjects” related to the working conditions and employment of seniors, he added.
The president also insisted on the need to “condemn the violence in a very very firm way”. He judged that they had “nothing to do with pensions” and that their “only common point is to attack our institutions and the forces of order”.
“There is a real political project led by rebellious France which is trying to delegitimize reasonable order, our institutions, its tools” such as 49.3 and the joint committee in Parliament, added the President of the Republic. “The next step is the delegitimization of the Constitutional Council,” he continued.
Discuss with elected officials to try to widen the majority
The Head of State also asked “to try to widen the majority by carrying out consultations on the edges of the current majority”. He also “asked the majority to use the next three weeks to discuss with elected officials, mayors, social partners to appease, continue to implement reforms and repair public services”.
The head of government Élisabeth Borne wants to propose a “method contract” and a work “agenda” at the end of the three weeks and see who could “sign it according to their political objectives”.