Back in the field on Tuesday, in the largest market in France, the head of state sent a message with Sarkozyist connotations by exalting the work.
Emmanuel Macron got up early on Tuesday. It is not yet six o’clock when the head of state, white coat on his back, begins to advance between the meat carcasses of the vast Rungis market (Val-de-Marne). For his first return to the French since the disputes around his pension reform, he chose to go to the “belly of Paris”, “one of those places where you work and get up early“. Land with a Sarkozyist connotation – “I assume all comparisons with my predecessors“, he said -, everything indicated to appeal to the “common senseof the population in order towork a little longer“.
Arrested between the stalls by butchers, the President of the Republic warns: he “prefer the angry truth” To “a reassuring lie“. “We all know that, living older, there is no miracle: if we want to preserve our pay-as-you-go system, we have to work longer“, he declares, surrounded by a delegation of professionals and his ministers Marc Fesneau (Agriculture) and Olivia Grégoire (TPE-PME).
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The message is supposed to resonate with public opinion as the next trade union mobilization on March 7 approaches, which Emmanuel Macron wants to see take place “in the calm” And “the respect“. The Head of State hopes to reduce tensions by then, hence his pressure on the major fuel producers to obtain a new “gestureon prices. Beyond the street, the president is also addressing senators, who must examine from Tuesday, February 28 the bill to postpone the legal age of departure to 64, left without a vote by the National Assembly. .
“More wealth for the country”
In the meantime, in the sheds of Rungis, before engaging in another obligatory passage on Saturday at the Salon de l’Agriculture, the president attends the cutting of a calf’s head. He poses with a free-range chicken in his hands. He hangs a red and white pin on his jacket.Love meat, eat better“. He lets himself be questioned about the difficult trades and the shortages of manpower.
“There is too much social. People they sleep, they don’t want to get up at two in the morning», Launches a butcher. Emmanuel Macron turns to the local Insoumise MP, Rachel Keke, to whom he points out the comical nature of the scene: “I just got yelled at, because Monsieur says there is too much social!“. “I don’t believe in less socialreplies the president, more seriously. Work must continue to pay more“. At the key of his pension reform, he promises “more wealth for the country», in particular to finance national education and health.
As soon as he arrived at the Rungis market, Emmanuel Macron was questioned about the pension reform. BENOIT TESSIER / AFP
Without relaying the attacks of his camp against the supposed “idleness” vaunted by the left, he insists: “I believe in hard work“. To the point of wishing a wide “debateon the subject, on the occasion of a new “full-employment” bill, announced for the spring.
Temper the reform
Listening to him, it is “better” THE “remunerate” and D'”adapt careers» the most painful. The day before, its Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, indicated that this text will also provide for mandatory profit sharing in small businesses – the translation of a recent agreement between the social partners. So many provisions supposed to temper the pension reform.
Read alsoProfit sharing: Elisabeth Borne praises a “historic” agreement
A few steps behind the delegation, aside, the rebellious Rachel Keke enjoins the Head of State to withdraw his project without delay. “Making people work until they are 64 is not being human. He has to listen to people and step backshe told reporters.
After a selfie with the president, José Graca, 54-year-old order picker – 40 of whom work -, for his part calls for “make young people work“. “I will leave as soon as possible to enjoy my grandchildren“, he warns behind the offal, his gaze turned towards his early retirement: “60 years old is reasonable“.