In the confusion, the Assembly concluded Friday, February 17 at midnight, without a vote, the examination at first reading of the pension reform project, on yet another imbroglio about long careers. The examination of the text must now continue in the Senate. The deputies then largely rejected a motion of censure tabled by the National Rally. In the preamble, Marine Le Pen had denounced "a project [...] badly carried out and badly explained".
In a sparse hemicycle, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, retorted that the debate had shown the faces of "two populisms", those of the far right and La France insoumise (LFI). The debate on Emmanuel Macron's flagship reform ended as planned at midnight sharp, due to the accelerated legislative procedure.
"The government will seize the Senate of the text that it initially presented, modified by the amendments voted", announced the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt. Elisabeth Borne announced that the government would retain measures favorable to primary school teachers, the liberal professions, agricultural pensions, retirees in Mayotte and "long careers".
The culmination of two weeks of debates at best tense, at worst chaotic, Olivier Dussopt reserved his last words for the Insoumis: "You insulted me for two weeks, no one cracked and we are here, in front of you, to reform,” he said furiously. Some LFI deputies came out singing "we are here, we are here", before deputies from the majority, the right and the RN sang a Marseillaise.
“Macron in check in the Assembly. Retirement at 64 has not passed, "reacted even before the end of the debates the leader of LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. "This reform has no parliamentary legitimacy," added the group's president, Mathilde Panot.
Unsurprisingly given the number of remaining amendments, mainly tabled by the Insoumis, and the deadline set at midnight, the debates were interrupted very far from the famous article 7 on the postponement of the legal age to 64 years. Throughout the evening, the discussion focused on the contribution period for retirees eligible for the "long career" scheme, i.e. those who entered the world of work before the age of 21.
Forty-three or forty-four? The question has not been clearly resolved, despite the insistence of LR deputies led by Aurélien Pradié, who demand that all the workers concerned can leave after forty-three years of contribution, without the legal age being a barrier.
"I will never say before the National Assembly that the contribution period would be a ceiling", declared Olivier Dussopt, considering that it would be "lying". "We can't come out of all this with doubts," Aurélien Pradié replied, asking for a clear position.
The parliamentary left is divided on the strategy to adopt, environmentalists deploring to Agence France-Presse "a strategic failure" of LFI. "I regret that a number of Nupes groups have somehow chosen to abandon their amendments, to give up the fight, and to leave us alone to hold on until the end," said the Rebellious Manuel Bompard.
The unions were urging the left alliance to go through with this key article of the reform bill. “The National Assembly puts on a sorry spectacle, in defiance of the workers. Ashamed, "responded in the evening the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger.
The latest demonstrations gathered Thursday 1.3 million people according to the CGT and 440,000 according to the Interior. This is the lowest figure since the start of the mobilization, pending March 7, when the unions threaten to bring the country "to a standstill" if the government does not withdraw the reform.
The CGT called Friday for the renewable strike in the refineries from Monday March 6. On the left, the focus is on these upcoming mobilizations. “We think of the social movement. I hope the streak won't weaken him. In 2020, we were exhausted but proud, there not ”, blows a source within the communist group.
"On March 7, we will make you bend," promised Matthias Tavel (LFI). In the hemicycle, the tone had already risen between the government and the RN, Marine Le Pen accusing the executive of having the "objective" of "lowering" the incomes of retirees, which Gabriel Attal challenged, the Minister of Public Accounts. "You don't have a solution to offer [...] the French see it," he charged.
"The challenge is who will impose his story," said a Renaissance elected official, as it seems difficult to say who from the government or the opposition emerges strengthened from this first parliamentary round. The Senate will take up the text from February 28 in committee.
Consult our file: Pensions: the big bang
