Calculators get hot. For his pension reform to be approved, the presidential bench, whose majority in the National Assembly is relative, requires around forty votes. Only the right and its 62 deputies seem capable of bringing it. At the moment, although it is difficult to make an exact count, the count is not there.
And for good reason: the violins are always out of tune in Les Républicains (LR). If the party’s feathered hats are in favor of the text, part of the parliamentary group continues to oppose it.
Between 10 and 20 LR deputies against
As it stands, there are between 10 and 20, by our count. For now, this is just an overview based on public positions and various observations by party members to BFMTV.
The refractory elected believe that the government and the majority have not gone far enough in certain proposals related to the long career or the consideration of women. They are, in most cases, relatives of Aurélien Pradié, who has become the party’s number two and singer of a “popular right”.
They can also count on the support of Xavier Bertrand. If he is not a parliamentarian, the one who still dreams of a presidential destiny has multiplied his media appearances in recent weeks. The objective: to denounce a “profoundly unfair” reform, destined, according to him, “to people who are well.”
In this group, 5 to 6 deputies would be in a harder line. They express their firm hostility to the postponement of the age of majority from 62 to 64 years, included in the reform. In question, the difficulty “to defend the reform in their constituencies, due to the local weight of the National Grouping (RN) or La France insoumise (LFI)”, analyzes a strategist.
The deputy of Oise Maxime Minot, that of Ardèche Fabrice Brun or that of Territoire-de-Belfort, Ian Boucard, are among them. “Be careful, in the end they can also be forgotten or not vote”, asks one of his colleagues, in the event that the parliamentary debate is finally favorable to the LR.
25 to 30 LR deputies are for
Opposite, 25 to 30 deputies are already ready to say that they are in favor of the executive’s project, without necessarily expressing additional expectations. Among them, tenors like Éric Ciotti, head of the party, or Olivier Marleix, leader of the LR deputies.
For many, it’s a matter of “consistency.” The right has been in favor of postponing coming of age for years. Valérie Pécresse, like François Fillon before her, advocated an extension of the legal age to 65 during the last presidential election. For this reason, it is “inconceivable not to support this text”, says a pillar of the group.
“We don’t want to pander to the government, but we can’t stop doing something we’ve been talking about for years,” says someone close to Eric Ciotti.
Opponents of the text laugh at this argument. Postponement of the age of majority? “It didn’t escape you that it brought us luck,” Pierre-Henri Dumont joked to BFMTV.com earlier this month, referring to Valérie Pécresse’s score (4.7%) in the race for the Élysée. The deputy from Pas-de-Calais is close to Aurélien Pradié.
10 to 15 deputies in the middle of the guard
Amid these reluctant or reform-minded elected officials are 10 to 15 deputies who have yet to decide. Some want to put pressure on the presidential field before the start of the examination of the text in the chamber, scheduled for February 6.
“If we say ‘yes, we vote’, everything collapses and we will no longer be able to pass amendments,” said one of them. For the latter, the course of the parliamentary debate will be a decisive factor.
Source: BFM TV
