She came discreetly on Saturday January 28, without telling anyone. The inhabitants of the 6e 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, capital of the Virois bocage, and attended several vows ceremonies alongside 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 unionized SOUTH, took the opportunity to challenge him on a reform to which three quarters of French people are opposed: “Why don’t you take into account the opinion of the population?
– It is not today that we will come to an agreement…she eluded.
– So, see you on Tuesdaylaunched the trade unionist. Since you are engaging in arm wrestling, we will be there! »
Three days later, he’s here. The meeting had been fixed for the end of the afternoon, Tuesday January 31, under the “clock gate” of Vire, a vestige of the Middle Ages when this city was surrounded by walls. Pascal put on his orange parka and took out, for the first time in twelve years, the purple SUD flag, to which he hung a lantern. On January 19, 800 demonstrated in this city of 17,500 inhabitants. For this second day of mobilization, they are 1,200, according to the gendarmes (1,500, according to the CFDT), 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 on “these moderate lands, with no real working-class tradition”.
“I feel on the edge of precariousness”
The procession moves slowly on the slippery 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 is in our temperament. » His colleague, Bertrand Mercier, approves. He too hates radicalism and extremes. But he worries about “stiffness” of this government which, because Emmanuel Macron will not be able to run again, has nothing more to lose: “They are sure of their strength. » At 55, this educator will have to work two more years when he started at 19 and will have paid all his annuities at 62: “Unfair”he summarizes.
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