The arm wrestling finally reaches the hemicycle. The review of the pension reform begins this Monday in the National Assembly, starting at 4:00 p.m. But due to the strong mobilization of the opposition, the thousands of amendments will not be immediately put on the agenda: the deputies will first have two opportunities to suspend the debates.
Step 1: Preliminary Motion to Dismiss by Nupes
After a speech by the ministers and the rapporteurs of the text, the parliamentarians will examine a motion of preliminary rejection. Presented by a member of the opposition, a member of the Nupes, this motion allows the National Assembly to reject, even before the start of the debates, a text of law.
If a majority of deputies vote in favor of this motion, the pension reform will be rejected by the deputies. If the majority of the deputies vote against, the debates continue.
Stage 2: referendum motion defended by the RN
After this long discussion on the rejection motion, the parliamentarians will have to debate a referendum motion. And after a draw last week, it is theoretically the National Rally that will present this motion.
But several opposition deputies, particularly from the left, protested against this decision by the Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly, which gave priority to the RN motion over that of Nupes.
Therefore, a third motion could be presented on Monday, at the initiative of the deputies of the LIOT group. They await a new draw to build a larger majority: many elected Nupes have warned that they will not vote for the RN motion.
If a referendum motion were adopted, consideration of the text in the National Assembly would be immediately suspended. The motion must then be voted by the Senate to ask the President of the Republic to organize a referendum, which he can reject even in case of a “Yes” vote in both houses of Parliament.
Stage 3: the beginnings of a long general discussion
If these two motions are not approved, the parliamentarians will participate in the general discussion of the bill. Each political group based in the National Assembly will be able to express an overall opinion on the text. Only after this long general discussion will the examination of the amendments tabled by the deputies begin.
Although they do not use the same means to achieve their goals, the RN and the Nupes will therefore be able to put pressure on the executive starting this Monday to push him to abandon his text. On the LR side, the deputies want to weigh as much as possible in the final version of the bill.
Source: BFM TV
