It didn’t take long for the reactions to explode. By unveiling the content of the thorny pension reform, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne sparked social and political anger. The series of measures does not pass for most opposition to the government, especially on the side of La France insoumise. “A great social battle is coming,” said Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France insoumise, Wednesday on Europe 1.
“A reform of great brutality”
Guest of Europe Matin on Wednesday, Manuel Bompard denounced the government’s desire to put in place “a reform of great brutality”. “For a forklift operator who started working at 18, it’s two more years at work. For a caregiver who started working at 20 and who may have a discontinuous career, it’s two more years at work”, he listed before adding. “There are 25% of the poorest who die today before age 62, more than 30% before age 64! So these are additional people who will not be able to enjoy life in retirement.”
A first mobilization on January 19
The left-wing forces will be alongside the unions for a first day of mobilization on January 19. “There is a need to mobilize since the government is trying, in addition, to muzzle parliamentary debate”, exclaimed Manuel Bompard on Europe 1. Will future demonstrations make the executive sway? Nothing is certain since the government had known for months that this reform would lead to “significant mobilizations” as stated by Marc Ferracci, vice-president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, at the microphone of Europe 1 on Tuesday. “There is not a single pension reform that has not given rise to major mobilizations,” he said.
If the executive couple seems determined to go to the end of this reform, the coordinator of La France insoumise assures him, “Emmanuel Macron has no legitimacy to put in place this reform”. “First of all because 80% are opposed to it! When you were elected, you don’t have carte blanche forever, you also listen to what the French think,” he said.
“He should give up this postponement” of the starting age
“I am not in the process of suing the President of the Republic for illegitimacy. He won the presidential elections and he is elected. But we have the right to dispute the fact that his mandate does not include the postponing the retirement age for an additional two years, because the people who voted for him, including in the second round, to beat Marine Le Pen, did not do so with the idea that was worth adhering to the desire to postpone the retirement age”, said the LFI deputy for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône.
“And besides, between the two rounds of the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron said ‘I know that the people who voted for me do not all share my ideas and I should take that into account’, so he should take that into account. and give up this postponement”, he concluded on Europe 1.