Republicans do not speak with one voice. The president of LR Eric Ciotti assured this Tuesday that he wanted to “be able to vote” the pension reform, with a “vigilant” eye on the final text, but the boss LR Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand has, him, said its “differences” on this support. “I wish to be able to vote for this reform”, affirmed on BFMTV and RMC the president of the Republicans. “On the right, we have to be consistent with what we have always advocated,” he argued.
But “the devil can hide in the details” and “we must be vigilant” about “what comes out of the assemblies”, he added, saying he was “totally opposed” to the increase in contributions mentioned by François Bayrou and the idea of lower pensions. “There is only a third way left, asking those who are in business today to work a little more, qualifying for women with bumpy careers, those who started very early, those who have difficult jobs…” , he added.
“Neither a spare wheel nor a stand”
With the approach of the day of mobilization on Thursday he noted that “the right to strike is constitutional”. But “I hope that these demonstrations will take place calmly” and that “there will be no slippage”. For his part, the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau, a long-time supporter of a postponement of the departure age, estimated on Europe 1 that “of course” The Republicans had inspired the reform.
“We are neither a spare wheel nor a crutch for Emmanuel Macron” and “I vote for the texts according to the national interest”, he added. The president of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand, holding a popular right which inspires certain LR deputies, estimated that “we have a divergence, it is very clear”, with Eric Ciotti on the support for the reform .
“No question of a slingshot internally”
“Today, we have a terribly accounting reform and justice is almost non-existent,” he said on France Info, laying down “three conditions to make this reform more acceptable”: the possibility of leaving after 43 years of career “at full rate, without discount”, a “convergence” for the special schemes and finally for women with incomplete careers “that we validate them for more quarters”.
“Many LR deputies (…) are also on this line of bringing maximum justice”, he added, assuring that there was however “no question of revolt internally”.