I tell the Corriere – People against elites The battle of Paris

Dear Aldo,
Macron wanted to revitalize democracy, but in the Elysée he concentrated power and accentuated his personification. The arbitrary use of Article 49.3 to push through the pension reform is proving to be a failure. The vote on the motion of no confidence expected for tomorrow. Even if Marine Le Pen’s Rn and Mlenchon’s Nupes pool their votes, they would not be enough to obtain a majority, 289. The right and the radical left could converge on the motion of a small moderate group, Liot, which would attract those deputies Rpublicains tempted to scuttle Madame Borne’s government.
Peter Mancini

Dear Peter,
Other readers have also asked for news of the revolt that is inflaming France (in a technical sense: after the fires of the last two nights, the police have banned demonstrations in the place de la Concorde and on the Champs-Elyses). As we said about ten days ago, the pension reform is the point of greatest friction between the elites and the people, between the establishment and the workers, between technocrats and voters. The point is that the exponents of the elites have interesting and well-paid jobs, and feel no need to retire, on the contrary they remain rich and powerful even in old age; the technocrats will also have their reasons, in elaborating studies and plans that demonstrate how the pension system with the lengthening of life, precarious contracts, demographic decline is not sustainable; but many voters have hard, low-paying jobs, and they don’t want to sacrifice themselves for others. On pensions Chirac lost the legislative elections of 1997, and had to cohabit for five years with the socialist Jospin. If tomorrow he fails in the vote of no confidence in the National Assembly, Macron would not be obliged to call new elections; he could launch a new government. But for him it would be a dramatic failure. In Parliament, the game is in the hands of the Rpublicains, the moderate right: it is very unlikely that they will agree to join the lepenists and melanchonists and throw France into chaos; an electoral battle between the extreme right and the extreme left would crush the Republicans; but its leader, Eric Ciotti, is weak and does not control his parliamentarians. In the country, the reasons for Macroni’s reformism are now in the minority. Protesters still have public support, and the president has never been more unpopular. But when the protest turns violent, when it targets the police, it ends up losing consensus; This is what happened with the Yellow Vests.