The environmental deputies denounced Friday a “strategic failure of LFI” on the pension reform, until pleading for an “act II of the Nupes”, the coalition of the left parties, in an interview granted to AFP.

Like the Communists and Socialists, the Green group wanted to speed up the debates in the Assembly to examine the key article on the legal retirement age of 64. But the leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is no longer a deputy, opposed it, encouraging his troops not to “rush”.

“We would have liked to have this debate” on the 64-year-old, “it would have put the government in great difficulty, we felt the concerns of parliamentarians and the government”, underlined the president of the environmental group Cyrielle Chatelain.

The left-wing coalition Nupes, “it works when we work together”, she insisted. “Each of the parties of Nupes is essential but, for it to work, we must also respect the whole”.

According to her colleague Sandrine Rousseau, “there is an effort to be made to move from LFI to Nupes” and “we will have to decide on an Act II of Nupes”.

“We had a moment in the debate when the government was in difficulty, three days ago on the 1,200 euros” (the minimum pension at 85% of the minimum wage, editor’s note) with “a fairly good Nupes sequence”.

“We had the advantage. We should have accelerated at that time,” said Ms. Rousseau, who is the leader of the environmental group on this text.

“We are going to leave the debate to the Senate and to the joint joint committee, but above all we are going to leave the baby on the street. On March 7, there really must be a major general strike”, pleaded the deputy for Paris in reference to the next day of action decided by the unions.

The Green MPs admit having themselves “hesitated”. “It was not easy to know what the right strategy was”, “but at some point I was convinced that it was necessary to force the deputies LREM (Renaissance, presidential majority), LR and RN to put their finger on the button for or against”, says Sandrine Rousseau.

According to Cyrielle Chatelain, “the debate showed that the government had a strong feverishness”.

But “normally the heart of the debate, it should have been the withdrawal of the pension reform, we see that finally the debate shifted to the withdrawal of the LFI amendments”, regretted the elected official of Isère.

For Sandrine Rousseau “there are still positive elements, we still managed to highlight the incredible weaknesses of the foundations of this reform”, it is “a victory”.

Later, in front of the press, the deputy Sabrina Sebaihi returned to “Act II of the Nupes”, demanded by the ecologists. “The objective is to flatten everything that has worked and amplify it, and no longer repeat what has not worked. Knowing that on the rejection of the reform, we all agree “.

The leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon had called on Thursday the deputies to temporize and had criticized the communist allies.

“Incomprehensible withdrawal of the PCF amendments. Why rush to Article 7? The rest of the law does not count? Can’t wait to get beaten?”, Mr. Mélenchon had launched on the social network Twitter, showing in broad daylight the strategic differences within Nupes.

02/17/2023 23:54:12 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP