Voting for pension reform is “not support for the government”, assured Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday towards the right that she wants to convince to approve her highly contested project. “You will be (…) led to express yourselves on the pension reform. Not on support for the government, but on this project, on this project only”, declared the Prime Minister before the National Assembly, during the government question time.
“A majority exists” to vote for the text, says (and repeats) Borne
The head of government hammered in an anaphora (a repetition at the beginning of the sentence) that “a majority exists” to vote for the text, in response to a question from the leader of the MoDem deputies Jean-Paul Mattei. “A majority exists, which believes in work, including the work of seniors. A majority exists, which believes in the pay-as-you-go pension system, and which wants to guarantee our youth that they will benefit from it”, declared Elisabeth Borne in particular.
“A majority exists, which is not afraid of reforms, even unpopular ones, when they are necessary. A majority exists, which will always put the responsibility before the display, the posture or the small calculations of the blow after. A majority exists, which does not allow itself to be intimidated either by insults, or by threats, or by vandalism on the hotlines,” said the head of government, in an allusion to the hectic examination of the text in Parliament.
The Prime Minister attacks the opposition
She also denounced the “global blocking strategy” of the oppositions in Parliament, asking them, in another anaphora, “to assume” their attitude. “Assume that it is you who, for weeks, have opposed the legitimacy of the street to that of Parliament,” declared the Prime Minister, in response to a question from the leader of the Communist deputies André Chassaigne.
“Assume that with your Nupes partners, you wanted to prevent the discussion and the vote. Assume that you made the choice of obstruction,” she added. “There are democratic moments when you have to assume, quite simply assume,” she concluded. Senators and deputies will try to agree Wednesday in a joint committee on a compromise text on the reform, which will be submitted – if agreed – to the approval Thursday of the Senate and then of the Assembly.