the two referendum requests on the pension reform submitted

Northern Ireland: EU evokes “very constructive” discussions with London on customs controls
Negotiated at the same time as the Brexit conditions, the current protocol effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the European single market.

Finally an agreement on the horizon? The discussions between the United Kingdom and the European Union on post-Brexit controls in Northern Ireland are “very constructive”, declared Wednesday February 1st the President of the European Commission.

“Our teams are working together to find solutions and arrive at a common framework (…) Negotiations will continue until the very end, until the moment when you know what the finalized agreement is and you sign”, insisted Ursula von der Leyen, during a press conference in Brussels.

Preserving the 1998 peace accord
Negotiated at the same time as the Brexit conditions, the protocol effectively keeps Northern Ireland, which has the only British land border with the EU, in the European single market. The text aims both to preserve the 1998 peace agreement, avoiding the return of a hard customs border between the Republic of Ireland (member of the EU) and Northern Ireland, while protecting the integrity of the single market.

Northern Irish Unionists see customs controls on goods from Britain as a threat to Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom. They are therefore boycotting local institutions, demanding profound changes to Northern Irish protocol.

However, the text has never been fully implemented: grace periods on controls have been introduced and extended for products such as non-frozen meat or medicines. Therefore, its full application augurs an aggravation of the difficulties.

The president of the National Rally (RN) group in the Assembly and deputy for Pas-de-Calais was the guest of “8:30 a.m. franceinfo”, Wednesday February 1, 2023. She answered questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.

Pensions: “The unions defend their own interests”, not those of the French
Marine Le Pen is “delighted” with the scale of the mobilization on Tuesday and claims to support it, judging it necessary that “the opposition groups be mobilized in the Assembly” and “that the French people be mobilized in the street”. “I do not have to be dubbed by the unions for a very simple reason, it is that I am with my friends deputies. We are elected by the French. We have democratic legitimacy”, pleads the president of the RN group. If she has not ruled out voting on possible “improvements” that the government could make to its pension reform project, Marine Le Pen confirms that her group “will vote against the text since Elisabeth Borne has said that she will not budge over the age of 64”.

“Radical elements” in the street: “Nothing is done to dissolve” the black blocks
Marine Le Pen insists on the fact that the elected representatives of the RN “oppose the National Assembly” and not in the street, the place of the “fight of visible and peaceful protest”. Pacific, she warns since she says she fears the arrival in the processions of “black blocks” with “the dubbing of the government to discredit the movements”. “Nothing is done either to dissolve these structures, or even to prevent them from coming to do their actions,” she says.

Pensions: “The French expect us to be serious and not play filibuster”
Nearly 7,000 amendments to the pension reform bill have been tabled for consideration in committee at the National Assembly, including more than 6,000 by the left-wing alliance Nupes, made up of LFI, EELV, the PCF and the PS. Marine Le Pen is very critical of these amendments and is worried about the delay in examining the text.

“With their thousands of amendments, the risk run by the Nupes is that in reality, the Assembly cannot reach the vote” and in particular on that of article 7 on the legal age of departure at 64, she laments. “We must stop the childishness of this type of political fight”, she asserts, before continuing: “The French expect seriousness from us. They expect us to defend their interests with pugnacity and not that we play at parliamentary filibuster.”

Referendum motion on pensions: Nupes is “permanently victimizing”
“La Nupes denounces shenanigans all the time. They are constantly victimizing, they are always angry and all the time barking at each other”, mocks Marine Le Pen. Of the two referendum requests on the pension reform submitted by the RN and the Nupes, only the far-right party’s motion is submitted to the vote of the deputies on February 6. A referendum motion that angered the left. “We must stop the tartufferie of the Nupes”, “What’s the problem? (…) If they were less sectarian and if they thought more of the best interests of the French rather than their political interests (…) they would vote” the motion of the RN, she underlined.

Immigration bill: creating a “stressed jobs” residence permit would cause “a breath of fresh air”
The immigration bill, presented Wednesday February 1 in the Council of Ministers, “does not solve the problem” in the sectors in shortage of labor and amounts to creating a “draft”, according to Marine The pen. To satisfy the need for labor in “jobs in tension”, the president of the RN group in the Assembly pleads instead to “increase wages”. “The reality is that if these sectors are in tension, it is because the trades they require are not paid well enough”, citing the construction and catering sector. She nevertheless indicates that her group “will vote for the individual measures” in the immigration bill “which go in the right direction”, even if “it does not compensate” for the damage caused, according to her, by the creation of a title of stay “jobs in tension”.

Ukraine: “I am the defender of peace”
The leader of RN deputies persists in her opposition to the delivery of offensive weapons to Ukraine, the day after Paris announced a delivery of 12 additional Caesar guns to kyiv, “a mistake”, according to her . “We are parting with our weapons to deliver them to Ukraine. Our army, which is already on the bone as we speak, actually sees equipment that it could potentially need to go abroad”, she regrets. “I am the defender of peace, we no longer talk about peace. France should take the lead in demanding peace,” she said.