The government raised its tone on Monday January 13 against “systematic obstruction” of LFI and requested the withdrawal of its many amendments “which do not serve the democratic debate”before the resumption this Monday afternoon of the examination by the National Assembly of the pension reform.
Pension reform: why Macron wants to impose it
Under pressure from the streets and the unions, who are waving the threat of a “France at a standstill” on March 7, the debates restart at 4 p.m., after a first week in slow motion shaken by invectives and outbursts of tension in the hemicycle, until the exclusion for two weeks of a rebellious deputy for a controversial tweet on the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, bearer of the reform.
“An obstacle to healthy democratic debate”
This Monday morning, no less than four ministers in charge of government communication on the file, Bruno Le Maire, Olivier Dussopt, Gabriel Attal and Clément Beaune stepped up to the plate in the morning radio and TV shows.
“You want my head? An LFI deputy sets foot on a ball bearing the image of Olivier Dussopt, outcry in the majority
The Minister of the Economy was the most virulent, denouncing the attitude of France Insoumise, which according to him constitutes “an obstacle to the healthy, clear democratic debate that our compatriots are entitled to have on the reform”. He claimed on RTL “that as quickly as possible, LFI withdraw its thousands of amendments”.
“We are facing a systematic obstruction of the coalition around La France insoumise”, added to Franceinfo Olivier Dussopt. Whether or not the deputies have completed the examination of the bill, the discussions will end Friday at midnight on first reading. The text will then go to the Senate.
“Lamentable spectacle”
The debates will be punctuated, Thursday, by a fifth day of action at the call of the inter-union. Drowned under the 15,800 remaining amendments, will the deputies reach at least article 7 on the postponement of the legal age of departure to 64?
“If the oppositions want us to be able to talk about age, it’s up to them to withdraw their obstructionist amendments so that we can get to Article 7”warned the Minister of Labor. “If you withdraw all your bogus amendments, we will be able to go to article 7 which is fundamental and which worries the French”launched on his side France Inter the vice-president RN of the Assembly Sébastien Chenu.
This is also what the unions are calling for in chorus. Sunday, the secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger denounced on RTL the “bullshit” of the obstruction, targeting La France insoumise at the origin of the majority of the amendments tabled. He also lamented the “dismal spectacle” in the Assembly, which has no “nothing to do with the dignity of the street movement”.
“We want there to be a vote on Article 7”abounded this Monday on BFMTV the boss of the CGT Philippe Martinez, so that “every deputy can express himself” on lengthening at age 64.
On the mobilization side, the demonstration on Saturday, more family-oriented, attracted between 963,000 and 2.5 million demonstrators according to the sources, and confirms the inter-union in its strategy. After the new day of action on Thursday, she raises the specter, if the government and the Parliament were to stay “deaf” to the claims, of a “France at a standstill” March 7, after school holidays.
Avenues for “alternative financing”
“Paralyzing and blocking the country would be counterproductive”, reacted the president of the Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé on BFMTV on Sunday. Government spokesman Olivier Véran repeated the executive’s line on Sunday: ” need “ the postponement of the legal age to 64 and ” listen “ to strengthen the system “senior index” during parliamentary debates, in order to encourage companies to keep the over 55s in employment.
It is precisely on the employment of older employees that the deputies will resume their work on Monday, with a flurry of amendments in all camps. The Nupes coalition then intends to defend its tracks of “alternative financing” for pensions, with a new call to tax “superprofits” of the largest companies, a recurring debate in the Assembly since the summer.
The presidential camp only has a relative majority in the Assembly, but the first votes rather reassured the macronists about the forces present in the hemicycle. The left relies on the endurance of the street to stand up to the government. On Saturday evening on his blog, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon proposed to the unions, “a new convergence” with “a call for a rally on a Saturday or Sunday in March to surround the action en masse”.
