The blurred image of LR on pensions
The government is not the only one in a hurry to end pension reform . For Les Républicains, the examination of the text in Parliament also has the appearance of a Stations of the Cross. For weeks now, right-wing elected officials have been spreading in the public square their divisions, their inconsistencies and their small calculations.
Whatever the outcome – recourse to article 49-3 of the Constitution or not – the party will come out weakened by this trying soap opera with twists and turns. An adoption of the bill thanks to the votes of LR in the Assembly this Thursday during a solemn vote, would, of course, be a good point for Eric Ciotti and Olivier Marleix. The two men could then pride themselves on having made their line of “responsibility” and “courage” prevail over that of the “slingers” led by Aurelien Pradie , hostile to reform. And to have ultimately saved it. But the sequence will leave traces.
A fractured party
The Republicans will come out of it a little more fractured, with a clearly asserted “social” wing, claiming a popular position, not to say populist. A “CGT right”, denounces Otham Nasrou in “L’Opinion” .
Elected narrowly at the head of the party in December, Eric Ciotti is struggling to gain respect and to impose his views. The elected representative of the Alpes-Maritimes was supposed to prepare the ground for Laurent Wauquiez for the next presidential election. But the latter is careful not to help him publicly. The boss of the Aura region remains behind the scenes, does not speak. Which raises questions for someone who aspires to enter the Elysée in 2027.
His rival, Xavier Bertrand, is a little more talkative. But it is to sharply criticize the reform. The right lacks a leader and a clear line.
A series of costly measures
The image of LR is especially blurred in the eyes of the French. For years, the party, its elected officials, its presidential candidates have defended the postponement of the legal retirement age to 65 years. In recent months, its leaders have done everything to bring it back to 64 years old, or even less, with a series of costly support measures at stake for long careers, small pensions, mothers or seniors. . So many gestures that reduce the financial gains of the reform. Paradoxical for a party that has made the fight against deficits its hobbyhorse.
All this does not suit Emmanuel Macron, who, we remember, had proposed an “alliance” to LR last fall. The party today appears unreliable and fragmented. Like an assemblage of increasingly self-employed, unpredictable personalities, each guided by their own electoral agenda.
