Posted Sep 29, 2022, 6:14 PMUpdated on Sep 29, 2022 at 6:20 p.m.
Crises are revealers. Behind the pension reform, there is another game being played at the Elysée table and in the scullery: who is the real boss of the new five-year term? What a question, it’s me! responds Emmanuel Macron. The “pensions” operation has precisely this objective: at the beginning of September, he made the subject his priority and put pressure on him, as if he were in no way constrained by the new parliamentary configuration. I push, I pass (or at least I try), therefore I am, he means. Determined.
Except that Wednesday’s dinner demonstrates the opposite. Emmanuel Macron finally leaves some slack in the calendar, seeming to give the point to the stormy ally that is François Bayrou. How to ensure that this is not read as a setback? All options remain open, he does not really decide and returns the ball to Elisabeth Borne. “We didn’t understand anything”, confide participants at the dinner.
Elisabeth Borne then? In a second term, a president can step back and let his Prime Minister step up to the front. It already is, in fact. Receiving the politicians last week, preparing to open the consultations very quickly. With this implicit subtitle: if things go wrong, she will be liable.
Chiaroscuro
Emmanuel Macron plays this new division of roles… but not completely either. He is present, wants to leave “a trace”, dives into the details, launches the reform of vocational high schools and renewable energies himself. “Chiaroscuro,” said a minister. Elisabeth Borne in the front line but unable to be, for lack of space, or lack of political weight. On pensions, she is the voice of Macron.
In the sequence, the winner is called Bayrou. He dared a balance of power that no other in the majority dared to do, he pushed the Modem deputies to follow him and… he won. At least this round. “He is not the useless ally that some wanted to see in him,” notes an adviser. But the method could leave traces. “Some have tried to be president without ever becoming one. I was elected twice on the basis of a project”, launched the Head of State during the famous dinner. Attention painful point.
Draw ? There is one who makes this calculation and hopes to benefit from it: Bruno Le Maire, the man of clarity, he thinks, when the others are swimming in ambiguity. Only a reform with age measurement will make it possible to maintain growth and full employment, he argues. Even if on Monday again, he swore that “never had there been any question of going through in force”.
What benchmarks in a constantly changing world?
Political uncertainties, scientific innovations, war in Ukraine, energy and ecological transition… How to understand these changes? How to position yourself? Every day, the 200 journalists from the “Echos” editorial staff help you decipher economic, political and international news through surveys, analyses, press reviews, chronicles and editorials. Our subscribers know that they can rely on these resources to better navigate our complex environment and make the best strategic decisions.
