A first test for the repeal of the pension reform since the dissolution. This Wednesday, the deputies examined the National Assembly bill that aims to return the retirement age to 62 years.
The text must be debated on October 31 in the chamber during the RN parliamentary niche, a day during which Marine Le Pen’s deputies have control of the agenda in the chamber.
Support or confront voter misunderstanding
If the right and the Renaissance have already closed the door to all support, barely a year after having defended the postponement of the retirement age to 64, the left, which has never stopped wanting to repeal the reform, shows its weakness .
Should we support this text when the New Popular Front (NFP) promised in its program the end of the reform, even if that means adding its votes to the RN? Or is it better to oppose and face the incomprehension of his voters? The issue is open and divides the ranks of the left-wing union.
To try to get out of the routine, the socialists have chosen to criticize the continuation of the parliamentary route of this proposal, rather than the substance of the text.
“Imposture” for the socialists
Deputy Arthur Delaporte denounces the “imposture” of a bill that “has no chance of succeeding” in the Senate. And for good reason: the upper house is far right and center and the RN has only a handful of elected officials.
Understand: it makes no sense to be politically harmed by a text that is unlikely to go far. In a statement, the socialist group asks “not to vote” on the bill.
On the communist side, “there are two positions within the group,” explains communist deputy Yannick Monnet.
“For my part, I consider that it is the best interest” that predominates and “if the bill remains as it is,” “I will vote in favor,” considered the communist deputy.
“It’s a political move, it’s even opportunism,” however, the elected official is upset, for whom “RN is a gravedigger of the social issue and, in particular, the issue of pensions.”
Divided communists
The leader of the communists, Fabien Roussel, indicated during a press conference that if he had always been a deputy, he would have voted in favor of this bill, while “he would denounce the imposture that is the RN project.”
It must be said that Jordan Bardella himself did not seem to be in a hurry to reconsider retirement at 64 during the legislative elections and had described the measure as “not a priority.” The RN deputies had not marched in the street at the time of the protests. The head of the RN even put the age of 66 on the table during a debate after the dissolution.
As for the rebels, the deputies initially decided not to reveal their strategy. “I didn’t say I was against it,” rebel MP Alma Dufour explained on BFMTV last Monday.
“Discussions” between the rebels
But since then, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has set the tone. “Deep down, this text is a scam,” wrote the founder of La France insoumise in a blog post this Wednesday. “It is not about giving credibility to RN on a social level,” he adds again.
However, “new group discussions” are still on the agenda to tune the violins of the deputies, says those around Mathilde Panot, president of the LFI deputies.
As for the environmental group, the RN’s approach also divides the troops. “I will not vote in favor of this text,” says Sandrine Rousseau. “In fact, the RN’s approach has only one goal: to trap us and not hold a line.”
“But, in fact, there are people in my group who will vote in favor because, in reality, it is complicated,” laments the environmentalist deputy.
Marine Le Pen “Tartuffe”
Among the arguments put forward by some in these ranks is the position of Marine Le Pen’s deputies in the Social Affairs Committee on the social security budget.
The left did not appreciate that on Monday afternoon in the Social Affairs Committee, where it had tabled amendments to finance a possible return to 62, the RN largely voted against.
“Tartuffe, Marine Le Pen, on social issues,” said environmentalist deputy Benjamín Lucas, denouncing a “shame” on the part of the RN group.
Conclusion: the bill was effectively approved in the Social Affairs Commission, but was emptied of its content. Exit article 1 that reestablished retirement at age 62. Benjamin Lucas and Sandrine Rousseau voted against the text, while the rest of their colleagues chose not to participate in the vote, like their rebel colleagues.
Towards a bill for rebels to end retirement at 64
However, to avoid a total rejection of the text that would have provoked debates on the initial text in the chamber, left, right and Macronists approved several requests for reports on pension financing and the evaluation of previous reforms.
Although other amendments to try to return to retirement at age 62 will continue to be debated in the Social Affairs Committee before the debates in the chamber on the social security budget, the left is mainly betting on November 28.
That day, the rebels will have control of the parliamentary agenda. It is enough to wait for a vote on a text on the end of retirement at 64, in the hope that the Senate will in turn examine this bill with the elected communists before returning to the National Assembly in February in favor of the niche of environmentalists.
But the RN’s trap is not completely over: Thomas Ménage, rapporteur of the bill to repeal the pension reform, has already indicated that his party could vote in favor of this text. Enough to embarrass the left again.
Source: BFM TV
