After very long hours of debate this Sunday night, the Senate voted shortly before 1 in the morning last night on article 2 of the pension reform, which establishes a “senior index” in companies with more than 300 employees. The senators will resume their work this Monday morning, starting at 10 am, and will try to finish the text before Sunday night, midnight.
But will they get there? There are still 3,011 amendments to consider in a week, or just over 80 hours of debate.
The fault lies with the strategy of the left, which decided to multiply the amendments to stop the discussions. At least until March 7, so that article 7 on the postponement of the legal age of departure to 64 years is not discussed in the Senate before the day of mobilization to the call for the inter-union.
“Text does not advance”
So the “deal” with Les Républicains is to make sure that all the articles are examined and the text voted on before Sunday.
Consequently, a certain series of amendments, such as the possible date of application of the closures of the special regimes, were “really very tiring”, admitted Elisabeth Doineau (Union Center) to the microphone of the Public Senate.
“There are dozens and dozens of very similar amendments. That’s why the text doesn’t advance! regretted for his part René-Paul Savary, rapporteur of the text (LR).
“The Senate would have to review 430 amendments a day, through Sunday, to pass the bill. Not very advanced if it continues at this rate”, says the parliamentary journalist Guillaume Jacquot.
Modifications “in prevention of article 38”
However, a scenario “in the National Assembly” seems ruled out, where the text would be blocked and article 7 not addressed. Although there are more than 600 amendments left before we get to this part of the bill, many are identical, alternate, or delete amendments.
Several of them were presented “in prevention of article 38”, acknowledged last week Patrick Kanner, president of the socialist group at the Luxembourg Palace.
This article of the Senate regulations allows limiting the floor to two speakers to expedite the debates. It establishes that “when at least two speakers of contrary opinion” have intervened in the general discussion of a text, a reform, an article or even the entire bill, the president of the Senate, a group president or even the president of the commission interested in the text, can propose the closure, thus giving rise to a vote by show of hands of the senators.
“If there is an obstruction, we will simply use all the constitutional means and our regulations,” warned Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate and the Les Républicains (LR) party, in the Figaro columns.
This week, therefore, the discussions could be accelerated and the text will be discussed as a whole. At the current rate of discussion (258 amendments per day), the senators will begin the study of article 7 this Wednesday afternoon or this Thursday morning.
Source: BFM TV
