After the heckling of the National Assembly, the Senate, reputed to be more civilized, will take control of the pension reform. If the majority on the right is in favor, the government will have to live with its conditions and brave the determined opposition of the left.
Between rejected motion of censure and songs, chaotic end to the examination of the pension reform in the Assembly
According to article LO111-7 of the Social Security Code, “the government seizes the Senate of the text which it initially presented, modified if necessary by the amendments voted by the National Assembly and accepted by it”indicates the site of Public Senate. Thus, the government will be able to reintroduce article 2 on the index of seniors, removed in the Assembly, without the help of senators.
The prologue will first be played out of sight: unlike the deputies, the senators will debate behind closed doors in committee. They will meet on Tuesday 28 February in the afternoon.
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The kick-off in the hemicycle will be given on Thursday 2 March at 2.30 p.m. As in the Assembly, the debates will be constrained in time. The debates will end on Sunday March 12 at midnight, whether or not the examination of the text has been completed.
The Senate spared itself long hours of discussions, nights and weekends included, but the whole challenge for the government and the senatorial majority is to be able to vote on the whole text before the gong.
The question may arise of recourse to the internal rules of the Senate to counter a possible obstruction, in particular to article 38, also called ” fence “which allows you to shorten the discussion on an article or an amendment.
Land almost conquered
Traditional political parties make up the bulk of the 348 senators. On the one hand a right in favor of a reform ” necessary “as the leaders LR Bruno Retailleau and centrist Hervé Marseille or even Claude Malhuret (Les Indépendants) support in heart.
Opposite, the left which does not want it. With a few hundred senators, between the PS groups, CRCE with a communist and environmentalist majority, it has the means to prolong the debates.
If they support, for consistency, the main lines of the reform, the LR senators nevertheless intend to put their paws on the text and modify the bill in several points on long careers, the employment of seniors, small pensions, hardship, women… So many subjects that will have to be clarified, with a view to controlling public accounts. “We know that in these very technical matters, the devil is always in the detail”emphasizes Hervé Marseille.
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The government will arrive in the Senate on partially conquered territory. The senatorial majority, made up of the LR group and the centrist group, has already announced that it was ready to vote for the reform. “The heart of the reform, with the postponement to 64 of the legal retirement age and the acceleration of the Touraine reform which increases the number of years of contributions required to 43 years, takes up the Senate amendment voted on every years “specifies Public Senate. “The government came to the positions of the senatorial majority”repeats the president LR of the Senate Gérard Larcher.
Threat of blockages
The strategy is not yet completely decided on the left side, but the threat of procedural motions and numerous amendments is already looming. With the concern of holding a debate on ” the bottom “. “We are not going to slam the desks, which we do not have”, slips the leader of the Socialists Patrick Kanner, in reference to the uproar of the deputies. The amendments should not reach the same heights as at the Palais Bourbon, where the figure of at least 2,000 amendments has been mentioned.
But the idea of the left is to ensure that the examination of the text does not go to the end, indicates Public Senate. The challenge, according to Patrick Kanner interviewed by the parliamentary channel “is that the Senate does not adopt the reform on the evening of March 12 in order to make the government face up to its responsibilities”.
Article 7 in question
The discussion in the hemicycle of the Palais du Luxembourg will be punctuated by two key meetings. First on March 7, the next day of mobilization by the unions, which promise to “Put France to a standstill” That day.
Then concerning article 7: it carries the key measure of the reform, the postponement of the legal age from 62 to 64 years. This was not addressed for lack of time by the Assembly. Patrick Kanner assures that his group wants a debate around this article.
The question will be to know if a positive vote of this article will be demobilizing, or on the contrary a spur for the day of mobilization of March 7th.
