Pension reform: oppose without demonstrating, the convoluted position of Marine Le Pen

Far from the pavement, the beach. On a visit to Senegal, to meet French soldiers, agricultural companies or political leaders, Marine Le Pen stands at a comfortable distance, Thursday, January 19, from the first day of mobilization against the pension reform. The timing is unwelcome but not wanted; this first trip to Africa for six years was organized before knowing the starting point of the dispute. However, he embodies quite well the distance observed by the leader of the National Rally (RN), faithful to her credo, vis-à-vis the social movement: the demonstrations, very little for her.

Marine Le Pen does not have words harsh enough to denounce the pension reform carried out by the government. She finds it unfair, useless, sadly accountable, inappropriate. She even sees “sadism, like in those children who tear the wings of flies”. However, to this reform adorned with all the vices, it seems to prepare only a quiet opposition.

No more than her, her troops will not take to the streets. “Not in our DNA”, we repeat within the party, pretending to forget the presence of the RN in the demonstrations against marriage for all, against medically assisted procreation, with the “yellow vests” or, more locally, against the distribution of exiled in rural areas. The party could very quickly deny its congenital hostility to the processions, by going, Monday, January 23, alongside the bakers: they will protest, in front of the Ministry of the Economy, against the cost of energy.

“We play the ballot box”

« Il n’y a pas que la rue ! »gets annoyed Marine Le Pen, highlighting “media work to publicize the consequences of the reform”, another form of pedagogy than that of the government. Already, it advances its pawns: the supposed responsibility of the European Union; that of the left-wing opposition, accused of having elected Emmanuel Macron; the slowdown in productivity, which complicates the financing of the pension system.

MP for Pas-de-Calais “wishes the success of everything that can make the government back down” while emphasizing the inefficiency of the latest union mobilizations. She believes that the emergence of a national debate on the reform could tip the scales more effectively than a massive strike, but does not announce, for the time being, a meeting devoted to pensions, nor local meetings – a fieldwork started by the New People’s Ecological and Social Union on 10 January.

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