49.3, pension reform, immigration law, tensions with Macron… What to remember from Elisabeth Borne's 602 days in Matignon

Une relation complexe entre Elisabeth Borne et Emmanuel Macron. MAXPPP – Luc Nobout

La deuxième femme Première ministre de l'Histoire a passé 20 mois compliqués à Matignon, obligée par une majorité relative à user des 49.3 pour faire passer ses budgets… et la réforme des retraites. Coup d'œil dans le rétroviseur.

History will record that she was the second woman in the history of the Fifth Republic to settle in Matignon, after Edith Cresson in 1991. She even stayed for two times longer than her elder: 1 year, 7 months and 23 days, or almost 20 months, compared to 10 months and 18 days for Ms. Cresson.

But these 602 days were not a long, quiet river for Elisabeth Borne. Here's what to remember from his time at the top of the State.

1- Failed legislative elections, a relative majority

Hardly appointed to Matignon on May 16, losing priority to Catherine Wautrin in the home stretch, Elisabeth Borne had to lead the legislative campaign. If she herself was elected in her constituency of Calvados, Emmanuel Macron's party suffered a setback. Certainly, Renaissance obtains the largest number of seats, 250, but this relative majority announces a complex and tense five-year term.

2- The use of article 49.3 on… 23 occasions

First consequence of this relative majority, Elisabeth Borne had to use and abuse article 49.3, to get all the budgetary texts passed. Twenty-three times is not Michel Rocard's record (28 in three years), but it is still much more than Raymond Barre, Jacques Chirac and Edith Creisson (8). On the other hand, this generated a record number of motions of censure. "With 31 motions of censure, or more than a fifth of the motions tabled under the Fifth Republic in a year and a half, which the censor deputies succeeded ?", a- she asked last December from the podium of the National Assembly.

Of all 49.3, the most emblematic obviously remains the one that the executive chose to bring out at the last minute to pass the very controversial pension reform.

3- The problems of pension reform

Mid-March 2023, in the wake of the use of 49.3 to force through this pension reform, numerous demonstrations marked each presidential or ministerial trip. Élisabeth Borne does not escape the concert of pots and pans. "I understand that French people want to express their disagreements, but I regret that there is no dialogue", she expresses on the set of France 2. An exit necessarily mocked by the opposition, who recalled that she herself fled the debate.

4- Immigration law… Too much difficulty ?

Perhaps that’s what cost him his seat. Feeling the wind on the immigration bill, one of President Macron's major promises during his 2022 campaign, Elisabeth Borne is taking over negotiations with Les Républicains. She makes concessions which allow us to arrive at a common text. But part of his own camp opposes this strategy, 17 Renaissance deputies abstain, 20 vote against. It was with forceps, and with the suspicion of a law inspired by the favorite themes of the National Rally, that the law was adopted. Less than a month later, Emmanuel Macron asked Ms. Borne to resign.

5- A difficult relationship between the President and his Prime Minister 

Emmanuel Macron once assured that he had a "fluid relationship" with his Prime Minister. However, while he had often displayed closeness with Edouard Philippe, then Jean Castex, his two heads of government of the first term, he never showed great closeness with Elisabeth Borne. In the corridors of power, there was more talk of a “difficult” relationship. Twice during these 602 days, there was talk of a possible reshuffle, but Ms. Borne always held firm. Until January 8…