
"The account is not there", but they continue to hope for an agreement. On Tuesday, however, the Prime Minister doused their hopes by announcing a negotiation, but without suspension of the pension reform.
"The minimum condition that we were asking for is no longer met," noted PS MP Arthur Delaporte on Wednesday, demanding "a return to Parliament" of this explosive issue, even if discussions between unions and employers fail.
"We are expecting an extremely clear response from the Prime Minister," added the spokesperson for the Socialist group in the Assembly, who "does not see how we should not censure" the government as things stand.
The 66 PS elected representatives are due to meet on Wednesday to decide on their position on the motion of censure tabled by their left-wing allies, led by LFI.
First meeting on Friday
But the government wanted to be reassuring. Its spokesperson, Sophie Primas, stated during the minutes of the Council of Ministers at midday that the socialists would have "every reason to be reassured" by listening to the general policy statement that François Bayrou will deliver to the Senate at 15:00 p.m.
"Out of around ten subjects" raised by the PS, "there are at least eight subjects on which he will have a response that will suit him," she insisted.
While repeating that if the social partners do not find an agreement after three months of discussions to return to the 2023 pension reform, the latter "will continue to apply", without a new passage in Parliament.
Like Matignon, she also said she was confident in the ability of the social partners to reach this agreement within the set deadline.
But the discussions would still have to start. Contrary to what had been initially announced, the first meeting of the "conclave" promised by the Prime Minister will indeed take place on Friday at 11:00 a.m., Matignon confirmed.
Like other unions, the head of the CGT, Sophie Binet, had previously reported that this meeting "would not take place" on Friday.
The head of government marked out the path in his general policy statement on Tuesday to the Assembly: first a "flash mission" by the Court of Auditors to work on "indisputable figures", then a quarter of negotiation "without any totem (or) taboo" even on the 64-year-olds, subject to not "deteriorating the financial balance" of the pension system.
A "total humiliation" for the socialists, who "have obtained nothing, not even crumbs", castigated the ecologist MP Sandrine Rousseau, determined to censure a Prime Minister whom she considers "unworthy of his office".
"What François Bayrou is proposing is a farce" and "there is a possibility that he will leave very quickly", added the head of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, calling on the PS to "come to its senses" because "those who go against the program" of the New Popular Front "de facto exclude themselves" from the left-wing alliance.
"Vagueness" and "generalities"
The executive's supporters are not shining with their cohesion either. The strongman of the Republicans, Laurent Wauquiez, thus estimated on Cnews and Europe 1 that Mr. Bayrou's project "remains very vague", despite "good intentions".
This imprecision, however, was excused by the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who stated on RTL that "making a catalogue of precise measures would be doomed to failure", while saying she was "extremely disappointed" by the lack of commitment to resuming the bill on the end of life.
Even in MoDem, Mr Bayrou's party, the leader of the deputies Marc Fesneau acknowledged on France Inter that the Prime Minister's speech "can give the impression of being too general". But, "the important thing is to try to find a method".
All under the supervision of Emmanuel Macron, who received the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, on Wednesday morning, a few hours before a new speech by the Prime Minister before the upper house.
And if possible by avoiding blunders, like the Minister of Regional Planning François Rebsamen assuming Tuesday evening to "respect all political forces except the RN". An "insult" immediately noted by the president of the far-right party Jordan Bardella, who still holds the key to a potential censure. The minister's statement "is not the government's position", Sophie Primas decided.