She came discreetly on Saturday, January 28 without telling anyone. The inhabitants of 6e the constituency of Calvados, where Elisabeth Borne was elected deputy in June 2022, discovered in the newspaper that the prime minister had defended her pension reform in Vire, the capital of the Virois bocage, and attended several swearing-in ceremonies with her deputy, Freddy Sertin, who replaced her in the assembly . She ended this surprise visit with a cake at the town hall of Saint-Manvieu-Bocage. Trade unionist Pascal Banning, elected from this rural town and organized in the SOUTH, took the opportunity to challenge him on a reform that three-quarters of the French oppose: “Why don’t you take into account the opinion of the population?
– It is not today that we will come to an agreement…she avoided.
– So see you on Tuesdaylaunched the union man. Since you are involved in arm wrestling, we will be there! »
Three days later he is here. The meeting had been fixed for the end of the afternoon, Tuesday, January 31, under the “Urporte” of Vire, a relic of the Middle Ages, when this city was surrounded by walls. Pascal put on his orange parka and for the first time in twelve years took out the purple SUD flag on which he hung a lantern. On January 19, 800 demonstrated in this city of 17,500 inhabitants. For this second day of mobilization, the 1,200, according to the gendarmes (1,500, according to the CFDT), is an increase in mobilization, as everywhere in Calvados. “Macron and Borne pushed us to the limit”, summarizes Sandrine Lelandais, local manager of the CFDT. Even the (Renaissance) mayor of Vire Normandie, Marc Andreu Sabater, recognizes the strength of the movement, unusual in “these moderate countries with no real working class tradition”.
“I feel on the edge of uncertainty”
The procession moves slowly on the smooth pavement. No music, no slogans shouted over a megaphone either. But a quiet gravity, under the fine, cold rain. “We are Normanrecalls with a smile Odile Jeanne-Mercier, a 58-year-old special education teacher, it’s in our temperament. » His colleague, Bertrand Mercier, approves. He also hates radicalism and extremes. But he cares “stiffness” of this government which, because Emmanuel Macron will not be able to stand again, has nothing more to lose: “They are confident in their strength. » At 55, this educator will work two more years, having started at 19 and having paid all his annuities by 62: “Unfair”he sums up.
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