The French socialist party has announced that it would not vote for the National Rally’s proposal to repeal Emmanuel Macron’s contested retirement law in the name of the republican front —a form of cordon sanitaire that mainstream French parties have long deployed to prevent the normalization of the hard-right in the country.
According to the leader of the Socialists Olivier Faure, the French hard-right party is not being truthful on retirement issues.
“The RN is in deceptive mode on the pension reform: it was not in the streets when we fought against it, and Jordan Bardella himself advocated retirement at 66 during the legislative elections,” he said.
But according to the RN, the proposal aims to “repeal the worst provisions of the previous [pension] reforms”.
The National Rally’s proposal was presented as a means to undo not only Macron’s 2023 reform but also the 2014 law passed under Socialist President François Hollande. It would restore the retirement age to 62 with 42 years of required contributions for full benefits.
According to Thomas Ménagé, RN lawmaker and rapporteur for the bill, the proposal is a “consensual text” aimed at gathering broad support across the political spectrum.
“It is consensual text in which we invite everyone, of course, to be consistent with the commitments they have made to their constituents, particularly as you would expect, our colleagues from the New Popular Front [left-wing alliance],” he said at National Rally presentation of their next proposals.
He framed the upcoming parliamentary vote as a “moment of truth” for those opposed to Macron’s government.
Faure swiftly shut down any speculation of a Socialist- hard right collaboration on such a law.
Although, the Left-wing alliance, of which the Socialist Party is a key member, has been advocating for the retirement age at 62.
“The first way to repeal the pension reform is to censor the government, which intends to maintain it. If Marine Le Pen were truly faithful to what she says, she would vote no-confidence vote,” said Olivier Faure on September 25.
“The left has always been consistent: this is why we will submit amendments during the PLFSS and will defend the repeal of this unfair reform in a bill with the entire Left on November 28,” he added.
For Marine Le Pen and her National Rally, the Socialist Party is betraying French voters in the name of “sectarianism.”
“Left-wing voters, and beyond that the French people, who have massively mobilised for weeks for the repeal of a reform that is socially unjust and economically useless, are once again hostages to the sectarianism, duplicity and insincerity of a Left that has repeatedly stabbed French workers in the back.”
The vote on the RN text is supposed to be held on October 31.
