Big crowd at party headquarters.
By bringing together the political bureau of the Republicans on Tuesday morning, Eric Ciotti intended to reach a common position on pension reform.
Shaken by its internal differences since the start of the examination of the government text, when no one knows precisely how many deputies out of the 61 parliamentarians of the LR group in the Assembly will support the reform, the LR party therefore wanted to express a position of principle , in particular with regard to its militants.
Éric Ciotti started the meeting by asking for "
unity and coming together
" and invited everyone to "
respect each other's positions as long as they do not harm the cohesion of our family
".
Installed between the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher and the Secretary General Annie Genevard: "The usefulness of the parties", Éric Ciotti then left the floor to the elected officials.
At the start, all called
for "substantive consistency in support of the principle of reform
", says one participant, "
in an unambiguous opposition to power
", continues another.
All insisted on "
the party of government
" that LR must embody.
When some elected officials like the deputy Raphaël Schellenberger (Haut-Rhin), close to Aurélien Pradié, insisted on "
the sacred freedom of vote
" of the parliamentarian, the boss of LR "
cropped him
", indicates a witness exchange, emphasizing the need for the party to have a collective position.
“There is no question of calling into question the freedom to vote,
reacted the boss of LR,
but unity must take precedence
”.
Xavier Bertrand who spoke around 10:15 a.m. indicated that the Republicans could not afford the luxury of division.
“
Journalists want to know if some will be excluded.
We cannot be fractured
“, develops the president of Hauts-de-France in s’
government of liars
.
"We must stop the caricatures, no one at this table has advocated retirement at 60
"
In turn, Aurélien Pradié spoke around 10:20 a.m.
Sitting next to Bruno Retailleau, the deputy for Lot who crystallizes the attention of his political family, recalled that there had “
always been disagreements in our political family.
The same people who are advocating unity today are those who were sowing division a few months ago
”.
An allusion to
"those who found
Eric Zemmour
a good candidate and who were not hanged on a lamp post".
A way of aiming without saying it Éric Ciotti who during the party's internal campaign had spoken, in the event of a second round Macron - Zemmour, for a Zemmour vote.
Before getting annoyed:
"we must stop the caricatures, no one at this table
.
After having targeted him, Aurélien Pradié then thanked Éric Ciotti “
for not having any mood swings
”.
The executive vice-president then indicated that he would not “
vote
” the motion presented by the boss of LR in BP, on the pension reform.
He does not want "
to be bound while the debate will continue
".
Éric Ciotti told the deputy for Lot that he would continue to fight for long careers.
A request from Aurélien Pradié that the boss of LR has integrated into his motion.
Some wondered around the table about his "
posture
".
"
He didn't come with any desire for things to get better
," regretted an elected official.
For Jean-François Copé, the attitude of the vice-president poses "
a political question
".
There
is a readability problem
“Said the mayor of Meaux, former boss of the party.
“
After Macron, it will be over for Macronism because for psychoanalytical reasons, he does not want a successor
,” he detailed.
Eric Ciotti's motion in BP on pensions: 8 elected officials have decided to abstain
Behind the scenes, Éric Ciotti had worked on the drafting of a fairly general text intended to place the debate on pensions in the context of the historical positions of the right.
The objective was to remind the elected members of the political office of the attachment of the LRs to the pay-as-you-go system.
Gaullist initiative, adherence to the principle of solidarity between generations, economic consequences of the transition from 65 to 60 years in 1981 wanted by François Mitterrand, situation of current public finances... The President of the Republicans also wanted to emphasize the continuity of all the pension reforms supported on the right, from Balladur to Sarkozy, in the name of preserving the system and the general interest, despite constant unpopularity.
The other argument envisaged to defend the LR line on pensions is based on a series of current observations: unfavorable demographic reality, drop in the number of contributors, lengthening of the life expectancy of pensioners, risk of collapse of the system distribution within ten years…
Finally, for Éric Ciotti, it was also important to remember that even if Les Républicains want to support this reform in the name of urgency, they want to remain in opposition to Emmanuel Macron and his policy.
It is by insisting on this point that the president also wanted to specify the achievements and expectations of LR on the government text: revaluation of small pensions, better consideration of long careers and chopped careers of mothers, 43 annuities for all, support for the work of seniors and a family policy capable of reviving the birth rate... So many fights that President LR deems consistent with the political history of the Republicans, a political family that wants to believe itself capable of embodying responsible alternation while defending a postponement of the
Of the 61 members present at the PB, 8 elected officials decided to abstain on this text.
The motion was therefore overwhelmingly adopted by the Republican political bureau.
"I