Pensions: the LIOT group withdraws its bill to repeal the reform

The group of Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories (LIOT) deputies announced, Thursday, June 8, to withdraw its text of repeal of the retirement at 64 discussed in the National Assembly, which had been emptied of its flagship measure .

“There is nothing left in the text, except obviously the amendments of the presidential minority. In responsibility, we have decided to withdraw our text ”, justified before the press the boss of the group, Bertrand Pancher, after more than two hours of eruptive exchanges.

Deprived of the vote, the oppositions expressed their anger on Thursday against the presidential camp, accused of “crushing parliamentary democracy”, at the start of an electric session in the Assembly. “From this lowering of Parliament can only emerge disinterest in our institutions, and in the worst case, anger and violence”, warned Charles de Courson (LIOT) at the podium.

In return, Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt pointed to an “almost nihilistic” and “empty” proposal. “You are not offering anything other than to discard, because you have no common alternative project”, he launched to the supporters of the text, from the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) to the National Rally ( RN) through some Republicans (LR).

“You are afraid of the people”

In an agitated hemicycle, the session started with a series of points of order, targeting the decision on Wednesday by the President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, to block the examination of the repeal measure, deemed unconstitutional because it creates a burden on public finances. “You are damaging, you are crushing parliamentary democracy,” thundered the boss of the Communist deputies, André Chassaigne. The chairman of the Finance Committee, Eric Coquerel, pinpointed “political and partisan decisions, on the orders of the executive”.

But, retorted Eric Woerth in the presidential camp, “the constitutional heckling wanted by LIOT and LFI, that’s the real attack on democracy”. The boss of the RN group, Marine Le Pen, also rose in defense of the text: “You are afraid of the people”, and “your pension reform is illegitimate”, she accused. “We are facing a major democratic rupture today, and you are responsible for it,” also pointed out Ms. Le Pen to Ms. Braun-Pivet.

From the perch, the person concerned, from the Macronist ranks, justified herself on several occasions: “the Constitution, nothing but the Constitution, that is my role”. The measure for a return to the legal retirement age at 62 was first torpedoed in committee in a close vote, then reintroduced via amendments. The left and LIOT had good hopes of turning the tide in the Hemicycle. But “to the anger, to the concern, to the misunderstanding that we, deputies, have tried to relay here, you have responded by the passage in force”, still accused Bertrand Pancher, brandishing a Constitution.

The knife attack in which several children were seriously injured also caused great emotion in the National Assembly, where a minute of silence was observed at the request of President Yaël Braun-Pivet “for [the victims] , for their families”, after this “very serious attack”.

Low chance of succeeding

Without being able to vote on a repeal, “we will call public opinion to witness,” Bertrand Pancher promised on Wednesday. Socialists want there to be at least a vote on the only amendment related to 64 years passing the constitutional filter, even if it only asks for a report. “MPs who vote for this amendment will be expressing their rejection of the reform,” they say.

The leader of the “rebellious”, Mathilde Panot, announced her wish to table a motion of censure against the government, which must still be debated within the Nupes. “We are entering a zone of lawlessness”, worried the communist Fabien Roussel, calling on RTL the LR deputies to join “to preserve our right to vote in the Assembly”.

Even adopted by the Assembly, the repeal proposal would have had only a slim chance of succeeding at the legislative level, the Macronists have constantly argued. While worrying about the political signal that a victory of the oppositions would have sent.

With the end of this parliamentary sequence, two days after a 14th day of social mobilization marked by the lowest participation recorded in five months of demonstrations, the executive hopes to be able to turn the page on pensions.