Certainly, the National Assembly’s text to repeal the pension reform was completely emptied of substance in the commission. Certainly, the far right cannot defend the return to the legal age of 62 years or to a single annuity period of 42 years, after its reintroduction amendments were declared inadmissible by the president of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet.
But the opportunity is still good to present yourself as a defender of workers. And the flame party made an effort to demonstrate it this Thursday, October 31, during its day dedicated to the presentation of its texts to the National Assembly.
“Sectarianism”, “hypocrisy”, “stubbornness”
The rapporteur of the bill, Thomas Ménage, sounds the accusation at the beginning of the debates. The Loiret deputy attacks both the left and the LR-Macronist coalition, denouncing the “sectarianism” of some, accused of “social traitors”, as well as the “stubbornness” of others.
“With these antics, you have earned the price of contempt, hypocrisy, insincerity, intolerance and, finally, the price of buffoonery. Unfortunately, those who will pay the price will be the French,” he says from the stand. At the same time, he assured that his party would support “any parliamentary initiative, wherever it comes from” to repeal the pension reform.
“Yes, yes”
The accused respond to him. First the presidential side, through the Minister of Labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet. That denounces a reform characterized by a “return to the past as the only perspective, financed solely by tobacco taxes.” Before adding:
“Seriously debating pensions requires at least explaining where 3.5 billion euros will be obtained in 2025 and 16 billion euros in 2032.”
As offensive as Thomas Ménage, Prisca Thevenot returns the favor. “The only thing you want with this text is to curl up into a ball and complain, to shout for democratic denialism forever, you are in the ‘yes, yes’,” snaps the Macronist deputy and former Government spokesperson.
The left, embarrassed by this text, also hits back, trying to present itself as the best fighter for reforms. Unlike RN, whose rebel MP Anaïs Belouassa-Cherifi lists the “long list of votes against the popular will”, citing the opposition of the far right to the return of the ISF or the increase in the minimum wage. “Where were you in January 2023? Neither in the street, nor with the workers,” the Rhône elected also asks.
Proposals for laws on the sovereign
And to evoke LFI’s next parliamentary niche, on November 28: “That day we will discuss a real reform to repeal the pension reforms for which you have never fought.”
The environmentalist deputy Benjamín Lucas points out the “ideological slalom” of the RN in terms of pensions, criticizing an “opportunistic evolution” lacking “sincerity” to deliver a political coup.
As we write these lines, the examination of the text continues, sometimes in a heated atmosphere, recalling the tensions that animated the debates around government reform in 2023. After the examination of this bill, the RN will focus especially on the sovereign with a text to make the conditions of expulsion of certain foreign offenders more flexible and another aimed at establishing minimum penalties for certain crimes and misdemeanors.
Source: BFM TV
