Everything had started well. Valentine’s Day opened with good omens for the relative majority on Tuesday. Elisabeth Borne had outlined a new gesture towards Les Républicains on the pension reform, seeming to endorse the path towards an agreement to vote on the text.
The two camps form a pair of circumstances, being Éric Ciotti’s party the only one that is in favor of the bill. The government has been dragging him for weeks to obtain the votes of its 61 deputies. But for some, the move has yet to take place, due to disagreements over the issue of long runs.
A new gesture to the right in long races
To reassure them, Elisabeth Borne announced on Tuesday that “when the early retirement age is reached, the reform does not provide for long careers with a contribution period of more than 43 years.” While there are still some unknowns for people who started working at 16 or 18, the gesture has had its effect.
This Valentine’s Day was going to end in the best way, we thought. It was without counting the surprise that came at the end of the evening in the chamber: the rejection of article 2 of the text, which provides for the creation of an index of older people, with 256 votes against, 203 in favor.
LR marks its independence
A first big setback for most. The love story with LR is not all rosy: 38 deputies from the group rejected the article, six abstained, none spoke in favor. Often described as “the government’s crutch” by the other oppositions, the right wing marked its independence and recalled all its importance.
“It confirms that the majority have their fists and feet tied with LR. If they vote against, there is no majority,” explains Matthieu Croissandeau, political columnist for BFMTV.
“We must not always look for political readings”, justified however the deputy LR Véronique Louwagie, preferring to see in this vote a “very pragmatic reading” of the article in question. Éric Ciotti pointed out “a statistical tool” that “did not help companies”, this did not include “incentive” measures.
On Twitter, Olivier Dussopt reacted by insisting that an RN and a Nupes “come together to bring out a new tool in favor of employment for the elderly.” Therefore, LR is not mentioned. Nor for the majority of those absent. However, of the 170 Renaissance deputies, only 140 participated in the vote.
“Phones Will Ring”
In its entirety, the majority could not have tilted the vote, but this event shows that “it does not take place,” notes Matthieu Croissandeau.
“Thirty absent at such ‘sensitive’ times, frankly, it’s not very professional,” he said.
“It really is not possible not to have everyone in the chamber,” a renaissance deputy abounds with BFMTV. For the rest, “the phones will ring to mobilize more,” he confides.
As is logical, the opposition smiled after this defeat of the government. Songs of yellow vests resounded in the chamber of the National Assembly. The extreme right and the extreme left want to see in this defeat in the presidential field a sign of the future.
“The suspense remains in the debate schedule”
“If the Nupes withdraw their useless amendments, it is still possible to defeat the government on article 7 and the extension of the legal age to 64 before the weekend,” Marine Le Pen estimated on Twitter.
However, the rejection of article 2 does not threaten the rest of the text. “First, because the suspense remains on the debate show,” explains Matthieu Croissandeau on BFMTV. “Will the deputies have time to examine the rest of the text? The answer is no, we remember that there are 20 articles, that we are only at article 2 and that in three days the text goes directly to the Senate, ”he explains. .
Above all, you can’t redo everything with LR for the majority. It is even the opposite. On Tuesday, the right agreed “unanimously of the 70 present minus eight abstentions” in the political bureau to “support” “a reform of the pension system that brings the legal age to 64 years in the long term.” And, therefore, to vote in favor of article 7 regarding this measure, although some deputies remain reluctant.
Above all, “it is not the end of the legislative process since then there is the Senate and what is called a mixed mixed commission (CMP) to designate a moment in which the deputies and senators agree on the final version of the text”, recalls Matthieu Croissandeau.
Source: BFM TV
