AT left and right, the techniques of parliamentary obstruction to slow down the debates are a great classic of political life and did not wait for the pension reform to annoy the executive in place.
“Bordélisation” of the National Assembly, strategy of rotting … The executive has constantly denounced the attitude of the Nupes since the start of the examination of the pension reform in the hemicycle.
The majority accuses him of wanting to slow down the debates to prevent the examination of the bill as a whole, in particular article 7 on the extension of the retirement age, between now and the end of the debates, scheduled for Friday evening at midnight. More than 20,000 amendments have indeed been tabled on the text and there remain, this Friday mid-morning, more than 8,000 to be examined in the hemicycle.
Unpublished? Not at all: obstruction is an old practice at the Palais-Bourbon. The proof in 4 examples.
• In 1981, Jacques Toubon and “the coconut trees” against retirement at age 60
A year after François Mitterrand’s election to the Élysée, the left decided to legislate to raise the legal retirement age to 60, one of the socialist candidate’s main campaign promises. The right, which is fiercely opposed to it, tabled numerous amendments to slow down the discussions, making this debate one of the longest in the Fifth Republic.
With a symbol: the “coconut tree” amendment by Jacques Toubon, a pillar of the RPR (the ancestor of the Republicans, editor’s note). The elected Parisian, then very close to Jacques Chirac, tabled an amendment asking the government to “plant in each municipality coconut trees in a number proportional to the population aged 60 and over and to make compulsory, once a year at least, the ‘climbing of these trees by the entire major population’.
What illustrate for him “the battle of time to live”, one of François Mitterrand’s campaign mantras.
• In 1998, Christine Boutin and her speech of more than 5 hours against Pacs
In 1998, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin defended the Civil Solidarity Pact (Pacs) which allows heterosexual or same-sex couples to form a civil union before the law. Faced with a divided left, the right is joining forces to counter the reform.
Yet in the minority, she first manages to get a motion of inadmissibility to vote against the text, greatly helped by the strong absenteeism of the deputies on the left. What force the government to completely review its copy and to present its bill a month later.
It is then Christine Boutin who takes the floor for the right and marks the spirits by presenting for 5h30 her arguments against the ancestor of marriage for all. She keeps the microphone until 4 am, under the ovations of some of her colleagues. The Jospin government then had speeches limited to 30 minutes before examining the articles.
• In 2006, nearly 140,000 amendments to slow down the debates on GDF
Nearly 140,000 amendments were tabled in 2006 during the bill for the privatization of GDF and Suez – an absolute record under the Fifth Republic. Exasperated, the President of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debré had his microphone photographed at the Perchoir, surrounded by piles of amendments. In reality, they were blank sheets of paper, intended to give the illusion.
To reach these astronomical figures, the left has used all possible means: ten identical amendments can thus be successively defended by ten different deputies
The episode left very bad memories for Nicolas Sarkozy who, once at the Élysée, had a constitutional amendment adopted allowing for better organization of the debates.
• In 2009, Casimir and Saturnin during the debates on public broadcasting
In 2009, the deputies examine a draft law on public broadcasting, which notably wants to put an end to advertising after 8 p.m. on the antennas of France Televisions. Two Socialist deputies then distinguished themselves by their speeches. Patrick Bloche thus evokes at the microphone of the National Assembly “the legendary figures of television Nicolas, Pimprenelle and Zébulon, as well as Casimir”, before evoking the little duck “Saturnin”, stars of television programs for children.
His colleague Marcel Rogemont talks about the “cooking time of lobster”. Once the floor has been obtained, there is nothing forcing the deputy to mention the subject of the debate. The UMP does not like the maneuver and has a video clip made to denounce the parliamentary obstruction of the PS. In response, the Socialists also post a video: “Our right of amendment is your freedom of expression.”
