Elisabeth Borne wants to turn the page on pensions, but the opposition does not intend to move one iota. While the Prime Minister is meeting the various group leaders of the National Assembly this week, several of them have declined the invitation. Among them, the communists, who chose to send a letter directly to the head of state.
From now on, André Chassaigne is turning to the Constitutional Council, to validate the request for a Shared Initiative Referendum (RIP) filed by Nupes on the subject of pension reform. “I think that we will have no argument at the level of the Constitutional Council to reject” the RIP, assures the president of the GDR-Nupes, at the microphone of Europe 1.
“A democratic bubbling”
If the institution validates the process, it will then be necessary for the referendum to bring together nearly 10% of the voters in nine months, or 4.8 million French people of voting age, so that it can be examined by Parliament. And to make things easier, the RIP has only one article, aimed at enshrining in law the fact that the retirement age cannot be pushed back beyond 62 years.
“It will be an incredible democratic bubbling”, estimates André Chassaigne. A big campaign should be organized all over France, in the markets, in associations etc, to encourage the French to sign it.
The number of signatures reached before the summer?
“We will somehow surf on this popular discontent,” he continues. “If we crisscross the country, if we leave together with the trade unionists, with the political orientations, with all those who are opposed to this bill, I bet that we will not need” nine months to bring together the number of signatures requested, he assures.
“In any case, what I wish is that very quickly, why not before the summer, we can have 4.8 million signatures” to underline that the discontent is there, concludes the communist deputy.