The presidential majority will “unite” on Wednesday in committee at the National Assembly to torpedo a proposal to repeal the retirement age at 64, in the face of strong opposition against an attempt to “muzzle” them. The examination by some 70 deputies of the Social Affairs Committee is a first round for this text carried by the independent group Liot (Liberties, Independents, Overseas, Territories), before its arrival on June 8 in the hemicycle. But each side is already hoping to score decisive points.
Because despite the low chances that this initiative has of succeeding on the legislative level, it maintains the flame of the opponents of the reform, before a new day of mobilization on June 6. And it embarrasses the executive, worried about the political impact of a possible repeal of the text by the National Assembly, just a few weeks after the promulgation, in mid-April, of this highly contested law.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne once again attacked the opposition on Tuesday, accusing them of lying to the French “by carrying, with the greatest demagogy, a text which everyone knows here, for good, would be censored by the Constitutional Council. “. “We will unite” to counter this bill, promised the leader of the Macronist deputies of the Renaissance group, Aurore Bergé.
With her allies Horizons and MoDem, she described as a “serious attack” on the institutions the decision of the chairman of the Finance Committee, Éric Coquerel (La France insoumise), to declare Liot’s bill “admissible”. According to the executive, repealing the pension reform would cost more than 15 billion euros. However, Article 40 of the Constitution provides that a bill must not create a public office. But Éric Coquerel invoked “the rights of the oppositions” and a “commonly accepted practice” of not blocking parliamentary texts as such.
The presidential camp did not lower their arms and devised a plan to counter Liot’s bill. He hopes to succeed in removing the article of repeal of the 64 years Wednesday in committee, where the balance of power seems to him more favorable than in the hemicycle. If it succeeds, the Liot group would be forced to reintroduce its measure by an amendment before June 8.
A scenario that would authorize the President of the Assembly to brandish the ax of financial admissibility herself, and thus prevent a vote in the hemicycle. “I will take my responsibilities,” Yaël Braun-Pivet, a member of Renaissance, said on Tuesday after being criticized in her own camp for not having blocked earlier.
For this multi-band pool trick to succeed, the majority is counting on the promise of Les Républicains leaders to lend a hand on Wednesday. “I think that the majority of LR deputies do not want to participate in this joke that is this bill,” said the leader of the right-wing group, Olivier Marleix, while the left and Liot hope that some LR will lend them a hand.
“We will not let the executive muzzle national representation,” warned the four groups of the left-wing Nupes coalition, promising to use “all possible means” to retaliate against the presidential camp. They organize a rally near the Palais-Bourbon at 1 p.m. For the leader of the Green MPs, Cyrielle Chatelain, “government supporters have two options […]: either obstruct or lose”. “I tell them, ‘Have the courage to lose and face the vote of the National Assembly.’ »
Marine Le Pen’s RN group has planned to support the repeal text “in the face of attempts to scuttle macronie”. Bertrand Pancher, leader of Liot, appealed Tuesday to Emmanuel Macron, in a letter where he denounces the “manoeuvres” of the presidential camp. “We ask you, in responsibility, to let the deputies vote and to respect the democratic fact”, he wrote to the head of state.
Consult our file: Pensions: the big bang
