A "mess", a "shock" or even a "crash": several majority deputies say they are "stunned" by the government's recourse to 49.3 on pension reform, in particular to the MoDem, who "pleaded to the end " for a vote.
Among the centrists, Erwan Balanant (MoDem) came out "in shock" from the hemicycle, he told AFP.
"It was a mistake to make 49.3 on a text like that given the state of our democracy. We had to go to the vote, even if it meant losing. I am in shock", reacted this elected representative from Finistère, evoking a situation "approaching the crisis of the regime".
The president of the MoDem group Jean-Paul Mattei was "extremely courageous, he said at each meeting that it was necessary to go to the vote", according to Erwan Balanant. It was also what the bosses of the allied groups Renaissance and Horizons, Aurore Bergé and Laurent Marcangeli, wore.
In a press release, the entire group of 51 MoDem deputies thus emphasizes having pleaded "to the end in favor of a vote".
He "nevertheless assures" the executive of "his support" after the "difficult decision" to use the constitutional weapon. This is "the only way to guarantee the adoption of a major and essential text for the safeguard of our pay-as-you-go pension system".
49.3, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote, "it's a mess" and an "admission of weakness", also believes Richard Ramos (MoDem), the only one who was likely to abstain in his group.
In favor of the bill, Philippe Vigier (MoDem) deplores a "huge mess", while attacking the right: "many LRs" wanted to vote against the reform "only in opposition to Emmanuel Macron".
Within the Horizons group, André Villiers, one of the most reluctant to reform, believes that "it's a delayed mess" and that "in public opinion things will remain very crystallized".
At Renaissance too, some elected Macronists do not hide their incomprehension.
At a Renaissance meeting shortly before the formalization of 49.3, the deputies were "stunned", according to a participant. They anticipate "the possible sequence behind".
For a leader of the majority group, on condition of anonymity, "it's a crash. It needs a dissolution".
For their part, four members of the Renaissance group, including ex-minister Barbara Pompili, said "regret(er) the use of a weapon which prevents the debate".
"Beyond that, what we deplore is the way in which the necessary pension reform has been initiated, both in substance (age measurement and distribution of effort) and in form", with a budget correction, added these left-wing deputies in a press release, noting however that measures have made it possible to “soften the effort”.
"We call for a leap against the extremes that take advantage of anger" and "we call for a change of method: to continue to reform, but in a more peaceful way", conclude these members of the In Common party of Ms. Pompili.
03/16/2023 22:07:51 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
