“You open your chakras and shut up. From the first minutes of the long-awaited debate on the amended Social Security financing bill for 2023 (PLFRSS) on Monday, the president of the Social Affairs Committee, Fadila Khattabi, tried, in vain, to calm the opposition deputies, white-hot on the eve of the second day of mobilization against pension reform. To the chagrin of the elected representative of the Côte-d’Or, who has repeatedly regretted that her colleagues are indulging in useless provocations, this first (long) day of discussions in the National Assembly – the work finished around midnight – was marked above all by the tussles, chins and ad hominem attacks between the majority deputies and their colleagues from the opposition groups. Few points of possible agreements or compromises have been found, including with the Republican deputies, most of whose amendments have so far been rejected.
While the commissioners will probably not have time to study in three days the some 7,000 amendments tabled – including more than 6,000 by Nupes – precious minutes were lost from the start of the discussions. In an indescribable hubbub, several deputies complained of being “crammed in” in a room that was too small, unable to work in good conditions on this 84-page text. “We have to change rooms,” some shouted. ” This is unacceptable ! echoed their colleagues.
“I could not foresee that part of the Nupes would be massively present today”, explained Fadila Khattabi. Some left-wing deputies, who are not members of this commission, had decided to attend the debates. This incident settled, the general rapporteur of the text, the Renaissance deputy Stéphanie Rist, had to settle another one: a microphone problem. “Otherwise I have a megaphone if you want,” an elected official shouts at him, in front of a handful of laughing elected officials.
But even when the technical conditions for a peaceful debate were met, most of the speeches in the morning did not relate to the amendments discussed. The two minutes granted to each member served instead as a platform for mocking the government’s policy. “Two weeks of pedagogy, it’s 13% more French people who are against the reform”, mocked the president of the group La France insoumise, Mathilde Panot. “You are at the service of finance rather than France,” added Somme deputy François Ruffin, accusing the executive of “radicalizing” itself.
These long digressions on the form have eclipsed the substantive exchanges, however interesting, on the value of work, for example. “Each time we got involved in technical but concrete points, which affect the daily lives of the French, our colleagues from Nupes came to add fuel to the fire. They complain that we don’t have enough time, but they do everything to prevent any argumentative exchange, ”lamented, between two sessions, an elected Renaissance official. It took 11 hours for a first amendment, tabled by Charles de Courson (Liot), to be adopted.
In the afternoon, the exchanges on article 1, which provides that most of the special regimes will be put into extinction, were more fruitful. “Explain to us why you are laying down five special diets, and not the other nine? Why, in particular, are you putting into extinction the regime of the members of the CESE, and not that of the National Assembly and the Senate, “questioned Charles de Courson, whose experience and moderation were praised by the commissioners – the centrist elected began his seventh term in 2022. However, his arguments did not convince Stéphanie Rist and this provision of the bill was validated.
It remains to be seen whether the deputies will have time to vote, by Wednesday evening 8 p.m. – legislative deadline provided for before the discussion in public session – the amendments relating to article 7 of the text, which provides for the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. “At this rate, it’s almost mission impossible”, slipped, at the end of this eventful day, a Renaissance deputy, who fears a new “tsunami” of amendments after the passage in the Social Affairs Committee. The 7,041 amendments studied only concern committee work; MPs can table others later: in 2020, during the previous pension reform, aborted, 40,572 amendments were tabled in session, after some 21,669 amendments partially studied in committee.
Consult our file: Pensions: the big bang
