The Republic on the move officially became Renaissance. The presidential party organized this Saturday evening at the Carrousel du Louvre its founding congress. MEP Stéphane Séjourné is now its secretary general. He succeeds Stanislas Guerini. But the evening was especially marked by an absence: that of François Bayrou, the boss of the Modem.
“François Bayrou makes his splash!”
His chair was in the front row, his name inscribed in black on white on the backsplash, right next to the new strongman of Macronie, Stéphane Séjourné. But François Bayrou never came, his reserved place remained empty until the party executives decided to discreetly remove his name. An absence that caused some annoyance in the stands. “What is he playing at?”, gets angry an adviser. “François Bayrou is doing his bit!” Plague another.
Because at the same time, an interview with François Bayrou was published by the newspaper The Parisian, in which the boss of the Modem says he is “opposed to the passage in force” about the pension reform. And this is perhaps the main explanation for his non-appearance at the Renaissance congress. To mark, in his own way, his disapproval of what seems to be taking shape. The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire reiterated again on Saturday evening his determination to ensure that the pension reform comes into force in the summer of 2023.
“The 49.3 is not a forceful passage” for Bruno Le Maire
And he also replied to François Bayrou, saying that “we are all opposed to a forced passage on pensions. There is no possible forced passage in a democracy. 49.3 is not a forced passage, it is one of the elements of rationalized parliamentarism, it is in the French Constitution”, justified the Minister of the Economy.
“So there is no question of a forced passage. No question of immobility or retreat either. And we will go to the end of the dialogue, to the end of the discussions, to the end of the possible compromises “We cannot dialogue alone. Our responsibility is to decide and respect the timetable we have set ourselves, that is to say a pension reform which comes into force in the summer of 2023”, added concluded Bruno Le Maire.