The situation had become untenable. Jean-Paul Delevoye has been under attack for days. The architect of Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform was accused of concealing conflicts of interest with his government office. The 72-year-old did not specify several paid and unpaid jobs, mandates and part-time jobs. On Monday, he resigned at his own request, not without calling himself a victim of "violent attacks and a mixture of lies". This harms the pension reform, which is "essential for France", said Delevoye.
In fact, the affair is a violent setback for Macron, who now sees his most important reform project in jeopardy, which he had announced in the presidential election campaign two years ago and now finally wanted to bring to completion.
But for days now the unions currently on strike against pension reform had injected Macron's top official, who had once come to Macron from the conservatives: Delevoye had "disqualified" himself. According to the Élysée Palace, it should now be replaced quickly, apparently already on Wednesday.
But replacing Delevoye, who has been working on the reform since 2017, shouldn't be that easy. He is the only one who really knows all the details of the extensive and complex design. To make matters worse, negotiations with the unions are entering their decisive phase at the same time. The third nationwide large-scale demonstration is planned for Tuesday after a twelve-day general strike. Union leaders and opposition politicians, including right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, who disagree with Macron's plans anyway, are already triumphing. Jean-Luc Mélenchon from the left tweeted: "His project must go with him. We want a happy Christmas."
A very French phenomenon
The expert vacuum to be filled is not Macron's only problem. It is also in vain about an image damage for his government, which Delevoye wanted to mitigate with his resignation, probably in vain: How can you explain to the population that a pension plan is solidary across all classes and classes if the master builder of the reform is not credible ? It will now be even more difficult to push through the unpopular, point-based reform. And time is short. The legislative project is to be negotiated in parliament as early as February.
The social-liberal Macron, who has the image of a "president of the rich" anyway, stumbles across a very French phenomenon. France's elite is often assumed to benefit more from the politics of the Élysée Palace than the ordinary people. As a result, since the yellow vest crisis at the latest, society has been divided into a two-tier society: the better off and the large crowd that feels left behind.
Dominique Faget / AFP
Top official Delevoye: resignation due to concealed sideline work
After all, the dispute over pension reform is not just about abolishing individually tailored occupational pension systems such as that of the state railway. There is also criticism that the current official retirement age of 62 remains, but you can only actually retire at the age of 64 without a discount. This would particularly affect those who start working early in life and earn little.
Is Macron like Juppé?
The Delevoye crisis is also fatal for Macron because the pension expert is not the first member of his closest advisory group to go out because of a scandal. The conservative daily newspaper "Le Figaro" counted 16 departures and wrote not without hate: "A record!" Among other things, Housing Minister Richard Ferrand had to resign, a close confidante of Macron and Secretary of Defense Sylvie Goulard. Above all, Delevoye's resignation is reminiscent of the beating affair involving Alexandre Benalla, Macron's former security advisor. He was also initially protected and held against attacks, but then he had to go. This marked the loss of Macron's reputation in the summer of 2018, around a year after taking office.
Macron, who had started to make everything new and infallible, is now weakly weakened in the final discussions about pension reform. The unions expect the previously planned measures to be withdrawn, or at least substantial concessions, including the de facto pension to be canceled at 64. The pressure on the streets is massive and provokes comparisons with the long, excruciating strikes in 1995. At that time, too, there was a pension reform that former Prime Minister Alain Juppé wanted to punch through - and then had to take them back, worn down by the protest.
If Macron wobbles now, his reputation as a reformer is gone. Then, in the second half of his term in office, he won't be able to make much political difference in France or Europe. For years, the French president has also been announcing ambitious reform plans for Europe to strengthen the alliance against the United States and China. The domestic political test awaits him this week with the pension plan. If he failed, France would have strengthened its reputation for not being socially and politically reformable. After Delevoye's departure, Macron is in the front row as a negotiating partner and in the spotlight. There is no longer a protective shield behind which he can hide.
