The end of the debates will perhaps not sign the end of the mobilization.
While the parliamentary examination of the pension reform project is due to end on March 15, the boss of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, has hammered home his desire to register the movement over time.
A wish clearly supported by 57% of French people, who would also like the protest to continue, including after the adoption of the text, as revealed by the latest wave of the Odoxa-Backbone Consulting poll for Le
Figaro
.
While the processions brought together between 1.3 and 3.5 million people in the streets on Tuesday – according to the figures respectively communicated by the police and by the CGT – the country therefore seems to continue to be mainly on the side of the dispute.
And for good reason, after already six days of action in almost three months, 69% of respondents still say they approve of the movement.
That is a slight increase of +3 points compared to the first meeting of January 19, when 1 to 2 million people had beaten the pavement.
“For many months, the government has no doubt hoped that the French would eventually get tired of the mobilizations
,” points out Gaël Sliman, director of Odoxa.
Read also“I do not underestimate discontent”: Emmanuel Macron responds to the inter-union
If Emmanuel Macron has reiterated that he wants to bring the text "
to its end
", even his own base seems resigned, since only a small majority of Renaissance sympathizers (55%) say they are
"opposed"
to the challenge.
Conversely, a third of them (32%) claim to be in favor of the mobilizations.
A trend that is also felt among supporters of the Republicans, yet an electorate concerned about returning to financial equilibrium: 39% say they
“support”
the social movement.
Therefore, in this showdown with the intersyndicale, opinion polls confirm week after week that the government has already lost the battle for image.
"The demonstrations are becoming more and more that of a strong global discontent, a feeling that life is more and more difficult and expensive"
, analyzes Véronique Reille-Soult, director of Backbone Consulting.
To the point that even the threat of a
“shutdown”
of the country would no longer succeed in reversing the trend.
Six out of ten French people say they are still ready to bear the consequences, a slight drop of only -3 points compared to January 31.
“Opinion is remarkably consistent on this subject.
Since January 19, the support level has been between 56% and 63%”
, emphasizes Gaël Sliman.
Especially since a clear majority of respondents (64%) would attribute the responsibility for a blockage to the executive, against only 35% to the unions.
Nevertheless, despite calls for a renewable strike in key sectors, the specter of paralysis is still far away.
All the refineries were indeed blocked on Tuesday, preventing fuel deliveries, but the mobilization of March 7 did not bring
the "economy to its knees"
, as certain radical federations of the CGT had promised.
As a result, only one in four French people were
"embarrassed"
by union actions - both in their travels and in their professional activity.
It is certainly a little more than at the end of January;
but it is not yet the great evening so much announced.