After having engaged the responsibility of her government this March 16 afternoon, by drawing 49.3, Elisabeth Borne tried to convince on this choice so decried by the opposition on the set of 20 Hours of TF1 Thursday evening.
At the end of a day particularly rich in twists and turns, the Prime Minister was the guest of Gilles Bouleau, Thursday, March 16, on the set of 20 Hours of TF1. The opportunity for Elisabeth Borne to deliver her truth on the latest events concerning the pension reform, and more particularly on the choice to use, once again, 49.3. “Until the last minute, we did everything we could to bring together a majority on this text. We wanted to vote for this reform”, immediately assured the Prime Minister, while since speaking in the National Assembly to announce the use of article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which allows the government to pass a text that it presents without a vote, rallies to challenge this decision have flourished everywhere in France.
“But some [Républicains] wanted to play a personal card in contradiction with their group”, admitted Élisabeth Borne, on the set of TF1. “We discussed around the President of the Republic and we found that the account [the number of votes to pass the text to the Assembly ndlr.] was not there. So I took responsibility, “said she explained, noting however: “I engaged my responsibility, not on the initial text, but on the compromise found yesterday”, in Joint Parliamentary Committee.
The Prime Minister was particularly keen to emphasize the discussions and debates that took place around this pension reform project, before the use so decried by its detractors of 49.3. “On the method”, “there were 175 hours of debate in the Assembly and the Senate”, “long discussions”, “months of negotiations with the trade unions”, this gave “a compromise which was voted in the Senate this Thursday morning and it is on this compromise that I have engaged the responsibility of my government”, she put forward, still assuring: “This compromise is the best proposal we can make. ” Further justifying the use of 49.3, Elisabeth Borne also said she was “convinced that we must reform our retirement”.
The head of government then returned to the hubbub during her speech Thursday afternoon in the Assembly. “I was very shocked” by the “singing” and “screaming”, she confided. “Certain groups want chaos and it is the modest French who pay the consequences,” also denounced the Prime Minister. Concluding her interview with Gilles Bouleau, Élisabeth Borne spoke about the threat of censure motions. “This vote will be that of those who are for or those who are against the reform,” she said.
This very long day of Thursday March 16 will remain long in the memory of Elisabeth Borne: this morning, the hope of obtaining a relative majority to adopt the pension reform by a vote was important. But over the course of the day, the account and the certainties ended up dwindling. After two meetings with Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister finally agreed to engage the responsibility of her government, by imposing on parliamentarians the use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution.
But the surprises and reversals of the day could well, also, instill in the mind of Elisabeth Borne an idea which will undoubtedly make its way: the current times are not very accommodating of certainties. Moreover, several LR deputies have already said they are ready to vote for a motion of censure. The hypothesis that it is adopted is frankly not to be excluded, as the elected opposition members have shown an anger rarely seen in the hemicycle over the past 40 years. Which would mean the overthrow of his government and the end of his mission at Matignon.
The polls follow one another: French opinion is fiercely hostile to the use of 49.3. This is also still the case, the pension reform is also poorly perceived by a majority of French people. It is therefore written: the social mobilizations will be reinvigorated, the protesters will cry out for a coup, for the disconnection between the executive and public opinion. Elisabeth Borne would probably not have imagined such a scenario for this very long day on Thursday March 16. For lack of imagination, we often delude ourselves.
