” IThe match is coming to an end. This Tuesday, June 6, the number 1 of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, took a step back, focusing on other subjects such as wages and working conditions, and relegating pensions to a lower priority field. At the same time, thousands of demonstrators continued to pound the pavement, two days before the examination of the Liot proposal, which would involve a repeal of the pension reform, in the National Assembly.
“We want real negotiations”, warned alongside him the number 1 of the CGT, Sophie Binet. Emphasizing that “retirements will always remain a struggle”, she highlighted the objective of “winning concrete progress”. “The inter-union will remain united,” she added, judging “probable that there will be other demonstrations in view of the anger in the country”.
READ ALSOPension reform: the test of the applaudimeterThe political opposition is also marking time. In an interview given to Parisian, Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS, declared: “Logically, the mobilization seems futile today to many because they see an inflexible president. But that does not mean that they ended up accepting this reform. »
900,000 demonstrators according to the CGT, 281,000 according to the police
According to the CGT, they were 900,000 throughout France, and 300,000 in Paris alone. But the police headquarters downplayed the mobilization, claiming to have counted only 31,000 demonstrators in the streets of the capital. The Ministry of the Interior said it had counted 281,000 demonstrators throughout France, the lowest number of the 14 days of mobilization. The smallest attendance, so far, was on March 11 with 368,000 people.
Apart from a few punch actions – intrusion into the headquarters of the 2024 Olympics organizing committee, power cut in the Paris suburbs – the disruptions remained very limited, especially in education with barely more than 5% of teachers. strikers according to the ministry.
In transport, SNCF ran nine out of ten trains on average, while a third of flights were canceled at Orly airport.
Some clashes in Lyon, Nantes or Toulouse
The processions were also less interspersed with clashes between demonstrators and the police, despite the usual tensions in Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes and Rennes. Beauvau had deployed 11,000 police and gendarmes to control the crowds, including 4,000 in the capital.
In Rennes, five arrests, three for “identity verification” and two for “possession of a shield”, were reported by the prefecture, which reported the knee injury of a Bac policeman.
The Paris parade, however, passed without a clash in front of the National Assembly, the demonstrators doubling their boos and sticking to the ground, in capital letters: “Here lies democracy. A sign of their disillusion after the passages in force of the executive in parliament, despite the attempt to repeal the oppositions.
Unions call on the executive to let Parliament speak
The presidential camp intends to continue to move forward, as evidenced by the publication on Sunday in the Official Journal of the first two implementing decrees, including the one gradually raising the legal retirement age to 64 years.
Thursday, the president of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, should draw article 40 of the Constitution – which prohibits parliamentarians from tabling amendments having a financial impact – to obstruct the Liot text.
READ ALSOPensions: what now awaits Liot’s billIn unison with the left and Liot deputies, Sophie Binet pleaded that it is “essential to let Parliament vote” at the risk of a “huge democratic anomaly”. But for Laurent Berger, “it’s not off to a good start”. For the right, “the game is over”, estimated the head of senators LR Bruno Retailleau on Sud Radio. Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI) promised on Tuesday that “the fight will continue (it)” against the reform even if he admitted not knowing “in what form”.
Macron evokes “timely announcements”
The debate must be held “within the democratic framework and respect for the Constitution”, for his part affirmed Monday the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of a trip to Mont-Saint-Michel. Tuesday, during the 79e anniversary of the Allied landings, he pleaded that “in such times, one should not make political comments”, adding that “announcements will come in due time”.
READ ALSO“We have a freewheeling president”: Macron and Borne at loggerheadsThe government plans to hold a multilateral meeting in mid-June, either at Matignon or at the Lysée, with unions and employers. A prospect that does not delight the union leaders, who should meet by video next Tuesday. Frédéric Souillot (FO) has already made it known that he “would not go”, while François Hommeril (CFE-CGC) “does not want to go to a communication operation”.