"We will not lower the tone" in the National Assembly and elsewhere, warned Jean-Luc Mélenchon at a meeting in Montpellier on Thursday, asking his left-wing allies not to "bark with the others" against the muscular opposition of La France rebellious on the pension reform.
At the Corum, in front of 1,400 people according to the organizers, the Insoumis leader defended the strategy of the LFI group, which tabled thousands of amendments and caused incidents during the session.
LFI has so far refused to withdraw these amendments, which would have the effect of allowing the examination before midnight Friday of the main article of the reform, the one which pushes back the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
"We were elected to be the opposition, not to be their minion," he said.
On article 7, "you hope to beat us on this article to put in your newspapers The National Assembly has adopted retirement at 64 and there the nerds will say ah we have lost once again", he said. he adds.
Earlier, on Twitter, he had asked his troops to maintain the amendments and not to "rush", despite pressure from other left-wing parties and unions who want the article to be examined.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon also returned to the incidents which involved two deputies from his movement.
"There were, it seems, too many words", he quipped, in particular with reference to the term "assassin" launched this week in the Assembly by the deputy Aurélien Saintoul at the address of the Minister of Work Olivier Dussopt. "I never apologize," he warned.
Mr. Mélenchon warned: "We will not lower our voice, anywhere, as long as I am there (...); we will win".
Addressing his socialist, communist and environmentalist partners in Nupes, he added: "We are rebels within an alliance called Nupes, but above all rebels, and we takes care of our insubordination".
"I ask my comrades in the Nupes, no need to go barking with the others, even if you do not agree", he added.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon ended his meeting by calling, like the intersyndicale, for the blocking of France on March 7.
In Bobigny in Seine-Saint-Denis, parliamentarians from Nupes, including several “slinger” LFI MPs, also called for amplifying mobilization, but defending the “unity” of the left-wing coalition.
"We have to win, we have no choice, we have to stop the country on March 7 to stop Macron," said MP François Ruffin. "It has to be the bosses who call him and tell him stop your nonsense".
"A March 7 and it starts again," dared MP Clémentine Autain. "Our responsibility is to win and to win, it's the Nupes! This unity of all the political families of the left, we must cherish it".
In front of nearly 400 people, the elected officials also stressed that the inhabitants of this very popular department and among the poorest in France, "will be the most impacted by the pension reform".
"Here we know that life is short, we will never let someone take two years of our life," warned the Rebellious Raquel Garrido.
bap-caz/hr/dch
02/16/2023 23:41:46 - Montpellier (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
