Accused of having “denied” his values, the Minister of Labor criticized his interlocutor for being “walked on by Jean-Luc Mélenchon” within Nupes.
The arrival of the pension reform in the Assembly awakens old quarrels. The traditional session of questions to the government once again proved this on Tuesday afternoon. Highly applauded by the Nupes intergroup when he spoke – an attitude interpreted as a sign of support before the second round of the PS congress – the outgoing boss of the Socialists, Olivier Faure, challenged Élisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister. “Is it yes or no, in your opinion, fair that those who started working the earliest, have had the most difficult careers, the shortest life expectancy, have to contribute longer than those and those who worked later had less demanding jobs and longer life expectancies?”he asked.
“I am ashamed for you”
Before Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labor, goes to the microphone to deceive him. “On January 4, in an interview with Release, you said you were in favor of retirement at age 60 – once again putting yourself in the wheel of La France Insoumise – but maintaining the 43 years of contributions. Are you in favor of what is a haircut and small pension machine?”he challenged in a rhetorical question.
By way of response, Olivier Faure did not fail to recall his interlocutor’s past as a socialist deputy. And in particular the year 2010 when, during the five-year term of Nicolas Sarkozy, he opposed the decline in the retirement age wanted by the government of François Fillon. “I knew you at another time when you actually defended the French who started working early, those who get up at dawn, take the RER or the bus, who empty the bins, who are forklift drivers, caregivers. Those who had only you to defend them, you have forgotten them.he denounced. “I am not in your head, nor in your skin, but I am ashamed for you, of what you stand for. Shame to see that you have denied all of your projects. I knew you with Henri Emmanuelli, with Martine Aubry, and I see you today in this government (…) completely denying (…) the apostle of social progress“, again lambasted the leader of the socialists.
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“Trials for treason, I am immune”
From the bench of ministers, Olivier Dussopt replied in the same tone: “Treason trials, I am immune, especially when they come from those who bit social democracy on the far left to save their seats”. “You are in the wheel of LFI. You get stepped on by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. It is the social democrats who, for you, should be ashamed. You actually have no interest in the French”thundered the former socialist, judging that the project of the PS returned today to “povert pensioners”. “The only interest you have is for your congress“, he quipped.
On BFMTV last Tuesday, Olivier Dussopt had already returned to his change of foot, saying that he had “matured“. And explaining: “Political maturity means that we sometimes avoid simplistic solutions”. The Minister of Labor had nevertheless added, to justify himself: “In 2010, the reform did not include all the tools we are planning: better measure hardship, long careers, there was no minimum pension…”
SEE ALSO – Pensions: the battle of opinion