DIRECT. Pension reform: “Until the last moment, we sought to avoid this 49.3”, defends Olivier Dussopt

The Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, affirms, in an interview published on Saturday March 18 in the Sunday newspaperthat “juntil the last moment”the government has “sought to avoid this 49.3”. “In the National Assembly, we did everything, tried everything, until the last minute, to build this majority. But we were in a risk zone, with deputies who hesitated between abstention and voting against.”, he pleads. According to him, “this reform was too important to take the risk of playing Russian roulette”. However, he concedes that there will be “a before and an after 49.3”. Follow our live.

Bruno Le Maire calls on LR deputies to “recover their spirits”. “Let everyone take their responsibilities on Monday”. The message of the Minister of the Economy to his former political family is clear, after the outstretched hand of the boss of the RN, Jordan Bardella, to the LR deputies, inviting them to vote for the motion of censure tabled by his party against the government. In an interview at Parisian published on Saturday evening, Bruno Le Maire hopes that the LR deputies “recover their spirits”. “A number of LR deputies and senators have shown courage and consistency, such as Bruno Retailleau, Éric Ciotti, and all those who followed them. Others have gone astray”he adds.

Thousands of demonstrators everywhere in France, 81 arrests in Paris and 15 in Lyon. In Paris, around 4,000 demonstrators marched in the south of the capital, around the Place d’Italie, where clashes between police and demonstrators took place in the evening and 81 people were arrested. Incidents also broke out in Lyon where 400 to 500 young people were shot by tear gas, AFP noted. In all, 15 people were arrested there.

Of the “outsiders” triggered the excesses during the demonstration in Paris, according to the CGT Ile-de-France. “There have been overflows, but by outsiders”denounced Saturday evening on franceinfo Vincent Gautheron, regional secretary of the CGT Ile-de-France. “The best security measure to avoid these overflows is the pure and simple withdrawal of the bill”he added, pointing to a government “which has continued to exacerbate anger and tension for more than two months”.