Eric Ciotti: "The Socialist Party always has a gun to the Prime Minister's head"

7:37 AM. Good morning Adrien Jeendre. Good morning. Your guest this morning is Eric Ciotti, president of the UDR, the Union of the Right for the Republic. Good morning, Ciotti. Good morning. First, this new surprise from Sébastien Lecornu yesterday. The suspension of the pension reform will indeed be added to the social security budget bill via what is called a rectifying letter. This is what several opposition parties, including Marine Le Pen, were demanding. Is this a good or a bad decision? Overall, I say, uh, this budget and this measure will likely stick because if this letter is set in stone, this rectifying letter, if the budget review is not completed, this provision could be enacted by ordinance. So, we clearly see that the Socialist Party always has a gun to the Prime Minister's head and is making him dance or sing. Personally, I am against this suspension. I think today, I have always said it, we have a disagreement on this, it was already noted when there was the proposal to repeal this provision. Our current pension system is in deficit not by a few tens or a few billion euros as is said, but by 70 billion euros, since the Minister for Public Accounts admitted that the over-contributions for civil servants, around 41 billion euros, are sinking the boat. So, at some point, we cannot continue with demographic changes that are causing the ratio between contributors and retirees to reverse. We cannot do nothing. It's a lack of responsibility. Listen, the Head of State, who spoke from abroad on the subject, said that the reform is not really suspended but postponed. His Prime Minister walked back the term in the afternoon and made a proposal for what comes next. Let's listen to him: a referendum on this subject. Referendum prospects are possible. Provided we know what it's about. So, I think the most important thing is that there is first a moment of stability in the discussions.