It is time for Édouard Philippe to get rid of the labels that stick to him. He does not like to be presented as an “80 km/h man”, the speed limit on secondary roads that he put in place in 2018 from Matignon. Nor does he like the term “67-year-old man” regarding his pensions project. “On social networks, the attacks against him are “macronism”, “80km/h” and “retirement at 67””, regrets François Goulard, the treasurer of his party, Horizons.
This Tuesday, the candidate for the presidential election, architect of the 2020 reform, abandoned after the Covid-19 epidemic, clarified his plan: a gradual increase (“in less than ten years”) of the contribution period (raised to 45 years) and the retirement age (raised to 65 years). He has set himself the objective of “regaining the balance of our pay-as-you-go system”, by defending a reform “responsible for all and fair for each”, he explains in an educational tone, in a video posted on YouTube.
Speaking in turn before the RN deputies and senators gathered at the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen gave her support to Jordan Bardella after the revelations by Mediapart on anti-Semitic writings attributed to him.
“Jordan said it, he and I put on our Kevlar suits because there’s some heavy stuff going down there. I admit that the handling is as light as a charcuterie conference,” she said. The leader of the RN assured that her party did not intend to “let it go”. “Not only will we counter-attack, and of course take legal action, but we will dismantle this manipulation and we will know who is behind this manipulation,” she said.
Marine Le Pen also praised the attitude of Jordan Bardella, who “undertakes this attack with great calm and great dignity”, according to her. Finally, she strongly questioned Mediapart, which she describes as “a self-confessed far-left activist media”, believing that this affair will “demonstrate the true nature” of the information site. Marine Le Pen also expressed her “absolute confidence” in Jordan Bardella, to the applause of the audience.
“But know that we are going to take a hit, that the system will do everything and our adversaries will do absolutely everything, including the most disgusting things possible, to be able to try to hinder this dynamic,” she also declared.
The day after Mediapart's revelations on anti-Semitic writings attributed to him, Jordan Bardella spoke this Tuesday in front of RN deputies and senators gathered at the National Assembly. The party president once again “formally” contested having made these comments and announced that he wanted to lead “a legal battle”.
“We are going to have to take out the heavy helmets, because the campaign will be long, because we are going to be attacked,” he warned his group. Jordan Bardella believes that the RN is now facing “the beginnings of a total war” and “attempts to destabilize the presidential campaign” which could, according to him, target party officials “one by one”. Returning directly to the Mediapart investigation, he described the accusations as “fallacious”. “These words and these positions have never been mine,” he assured, claiming to have been, during his political career, “laid bare” and “scrutinized” without such elements having so far been brought to light.
The president of the RN also argued that this affair would “most certainly have been prepared for several months”, in the event that he were a candidate in the presidential election. “Either Mediapart implemented a swindle operation, or a swindler operation was set up outside and Mediapart itself got smoked,” he accused.
Jordan Bardella also claims to have requested, in particular through his lawyer, to consult the documents on which the investigation is based and assures that Mediapart refused to transmit them to him. “We are going to fight, I am going to fight on the legal ground,” he insisted, believing that the RN was now faced with “a soap opera”. He finally strongly attacked the investigative site, which he described as a “far-left newspaper, made up of fanatics” who would use, according to him, “all means, including the most unfair”, to prevent the RN from winning the presidential election. “They are in an all-out war,” he continued. He also claims that the accusations of anti-Semitism have the “objective” of “killing him politically”
Édouard Philippe comes out of the woodwork on pensions. This Tuesday, the candidate for the presidential election returned to his proposal to reform the pension system. He therefore wishes, in the event of victory, to “gradually increase the contribution period to 45 years and the starting age to 65 years”. A “responsible” and “fair” reform to avoid a “financial crisis”, he pleads.
“People who tell you: Let’s go back to retirement at 60, all that is wonderful, all that is great. These people who tell you this are charlatans,” denounces the candidate, in a video published on YouTube. This approach is not “a lasting solution”, he still judges. “We can clearly see that there are more and more retirees and less and less assets per retiree to finance pensions. This balance is weakening. […] But if we really want to, we must ensure the financing of our system, and that is where we are in difficulty,” explains Edouard Philippe.
The candidate, who refuses to use the “levers” of an increase in contributions, recourse to debt or a reduction in pensions, instead calls for “progressively working longer”. First, by “gradually increasing the contribution period to 45 years and the starting age to 65 for French people who can”. But “in the reform that I am proposing, one in three French people will be able to leave before the age of 65, between 60 and 64,” he adds. Likewise, “the retirement age of people in poor health will not change, it will remain at 55 years for people with disabilities, 60 years for people with permanent disabilities and 62 years for people with disabilities”.
Another major modification, the mayor of Le Havre intends to “complete our pay-as-you-go system with a capitalization component. […] I want it to become possible and obligatory for all employees, because thanks to this, all employees will be associated with the valorization of capital,” he explains. The effects of this change are not expected before “15 or 20 years”, and a retirement savings plan must be put in place for each French person, too. “The question of pensions is not a curse, it is a social subject before being a financial subject,” he then concludes.
Laurent Jacobelli defended Jordan Bardella after Mediapart's revelations on anti-Semitic writings attributed to him. “My conviction is unshakeable. Jordan Bardella has never made these remarks and I am deeply convinced of it,” assured the deputy for Moselle, affirming that the president of the RN is “really at the forefront of the fight against anti-Semitism”.
The RN spokesperson mainly focused his attacks on Mediapart, which he describes as a “far-left militant leaflet”. “We are witnessing the machine producing stink balls at the start of the campaign. We expected it, probably not so soon,” he said, denouncing a “militant operation”, a “campaign hijacking” and a “voter hold-up”.
“Justice will decide,” he added, while Jordan Bardella announced that he would take legal action against the information site.
Guest of France Inter this Tuesday morning, LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard said he had “a reaction of astonishment” after the revelations by Mediapart on anti-Semitic writings attributed to Jordan Bardella. “These comments are absolutely revolting. If they are accurate, and this is what the Mediapart newspaper claims, they demonstrate once again that anti-Semitism is the DNA of the French extreme right,” he declared.
“If these remarks are true, I believe that Jordan Bardella must draw absolutely all the consequences, and that he cannot play a major role in French political life,” continued the deputy for Bouches-du-Rhône.
“I think the French people must understand that it would be madness to entrust power to a political family like the National Rally today. There was no need for these comments to know that, but in my opinion they give it a new dimension,” he added.
“These comments attributed to Jordan Bardella are extremely serious. They repeat all the clichés of anti-Semitism as invented by far-right thought for 120 years,” Jean-François Copé, LR mayor of Meaux, blasted on RTL this Tuesday morning, after the president of the National Rally (RN) was accused, yesterday by Mediapart, of having made anti-Semitic and conspiratorial comments in 2013. Writings denied by the person concerned.
“Either Mediapart is not in a position to be able to prove it, and in this case they are providing a service to Jordan Bardella. Either Mediapart is able to prove it, by producing documents. If this is confirmed and demonstrated, the ball will be in the court of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen, of the National Rally, who for years have explained that the party has demonized itself (...) Marine Le Pen must position herself. If the evidence is there, it will be more complicated for Jordan Bardella to deny. The limits of demonization of the RN have been exceeded for a very long time. Simply, far too many people pretend,” added Jean-François Copé.
“I am one of those at LR who have denounced from the start any form of collusion with the extreme right. The History of France is not a blank page. We have nothing to do with the RN.”
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised an additional 1.5 billion euros to the departments in the 2027 budget and proposed to allocate part of the general social contribution (CSG) to these communities, in a letter sent Monday to their presidents. “I wanted to make an exception in favor of the departments,” writes the tenant of Matignon in this letter revealed by Le Monde and of which AFP obtained a copy.
“Your revenue will thus increase beyond inflation: all departments will have an additional 1.5 billion euros at their disposal,” even if they will still have to participate in the national effort to restore public finances, it is added. The head of government also proposes to allocate “300 million euros of CSG to finance the personalized autonomy allowance (APA)”.
Social assistance, such as active solidarity income (RSA) or APA, represents a major and growing part of the budgets of departments in France, absorbing a very significant part of their operating expenses. The government will present a first copy of its budget for 2027 to the Council of Ministers on Thursday, leaving it up to Parliament to try to find a compromise, less than seven months before the presidential election.
Time for the response. Barely hours after the publication by Mediapart of an article attributing anti-Semitic and conspiratorial writings to Jordan Bardella dating from 2013, when he was still only a teenager, but already a member of the National Front - now Rally -, the president of the flame party counterattacked on CNews. Confronted with comments that he considers “completely delusional” and that he “denies” having made, the nationalist MEP announced that he had filed a complaint for “defamation” against the information site.
An action justified by the “extremely organized” nature of these revelations, which, he assures, should have “come out” in the event that he had taken up the torch from Marine Le Pen for the presidential election, in the event of her legal impediment. It doesn't matter that the article appeared when the head of the RN deputies was finally able to remain in the running: Jordan Bardella persists and signs. For him, this affair is akin to “a charade operation”, intended to “destabilize the campaign” of a given RN favorite for 2027, and to “try to destroy it politically”. As for who is in charge, he puts forward two hypotheses. “Either Mediapart is at the origin, and (as) it is not based on anything, it is extremely serious; either Mediapart is being smoked out by people who have an interest in this destabilizing operation, and it is even more serious,” charges the MEP.
The popularity of Emmanuel Macron, and his Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, is falling sharply according to a poll published Tuesday, against a backdrop of concern among the French regarding the measures taken to mitigate the rise in fuel prices.
The head of state saw his popularity drop by 7 points compared to the end of June, reaching its historic low with only 18% of respondents who believe that he is a good president, according to this Odoxa-Mascaret barometer for Public Senate and the regional press.
According to this online survey, carried out before the intervention of the President of the Republic on Thursday on the news of TF1 and France 2 on the question of fuels, 75% of respondents believe that the expansion of aid to “heavy rollers” announced by the government is insufficient. And 62% of them believe that the executive must devote more money to the issue, despite France's level of deficit.
