Elisabeth Borne remains determined to succeed without 49.3

Elisabeth Borne is playing the card of serenity before a decisive week for the pension reform bill. LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP

The 49.3 is an institutional weapon. But the battle is also played on the psychological ground. Adopt the pension reform at 49.3, “I don’t want to put myself in that perspective,” maintains Elisabeth Borne. And for good reason: anticipating its use would be proof of weakness; the expression of a fear that, on D-day, the account will not be there; the admission that all the concessions made to attract the vote of the LR deputies would have been wasted; and an encouragement to a mobilization which however does not manage to take a further step. In this psychological battle, you have to ward off any sign of feverishness and display as much serenity as possible. Borne therefore plays the card of serenity. A card all the more necessary as, even within the majority and the government, it seems to be the only one to show it.

Serenity also means not anticipating recourse to 49.3, which she makes sure she can avoid. Ultra-tight, the chronology makes sense here…