The debates reignited in the Senate on Thursday night, as part of the review of the pension reform. The Republicans and the government have used various constitutional and regulatory weapons at their disposal to try to speed up the discussions.
Maneuvers that angered left-wing elected officials, some denouncing a “new co-organized coup.”
As on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the rapporteur LR Réné-Paul Savary requested in priority an amendment to rewrite article 9 of the bill, which refers to the difficulty. His adoption shortly after midnight brought with it dozens of suppression amendments tabled by the left overnight.
An amendment sets fire to gunpowder
“The commission and the senatorial right have just unleashed the umpteenth procedural maneuver since Tuesday night. This time they unleash it on a major article of the bill, article 9 on which all the unions insist the most, ”he denounced at the beginning of the day. late in the chamber the communist Pierre Laurent.
He and his companions on the left decided, in response, to multiply the motions of order to protest. A very rare event in the Senate and that illustrates the tension of recent days in the Luxembourg Palace.
“If you think we’re going to bend the knee, put on our housedress and rope around our necks, the answer is no,” said Patrick Kanner, head of the socialist group.
“You are reaping what you sowed last week. You have not fulfilled your commitments”, replied René-Paul Savary, who recalled that “it was a good question that we could discuss to reach the end of the text”.
“I did not sign any agreement”
Before the start of the exam in the Senate, right and left had reached an agreement. A fairly simple “secret agreement”: no review of article 7 before the mobilization on March 7, vote on the reform as a whole before midnight on Sunday.
“I have not signed any agreement,” replied Guillaume Gontard, president of the environmental group in the Senate. “What was said is that until article 7 that postpones retirement at 64, we would have a normal method of discussion and then we would move to a method that will accelerate,” he explained to BFMTV.com a few days ago.
Agreement or not, the opposition of the left, with dozens and dozens of amendments, has not stopped since Tuesday night. Thus, the right has used various tools at its disposal in the Senate’s bylaws to galvanize elected representatives of the left.
constitutional weapon
The latter responded to the rewrite amendment this Thursday night, submitting numerous subamendments. Deploring “a will to block”, Olivier Dussopt, for the first time since the beginning of the examination of the text, made use of article 44-2 of the Constitution. All the subamendments presented in the afternoon that had not been submitted to the committee for consideration were declared inadmissible.
“What you are doing this afternoon, the senatorial majority and the government, is for us a sign of political weakness and a sign of fever,” denounced Elianne Assassi, president of the communist group.
The senator already anticipates the government’s use of article 44-3. Another constitutional weapon that would limit the debates in the next few hours. Except that the discussions must be completed by Sunday at midnight.
“You have not gained a minute with this case”
The rewrite amendment finally passed and the meeting adjourned at 12:30 am But the debates have not progressed: there is still half the text (12 articles to be voted on, including article 9) and around a thousand amendments to be examined.
. “He has not gained a single minute with this case”, joked PS Jérôme Durain in the evening.
However, the senators approved this Thursday the extension of the long-career system to those who started working between the ages of 20 and 21, for early departure at 63.
They also voted in favor of a proposal from the right and center that establishes a surcharge on the pension of up to 5% for women who choose to leave at the legal retirement age, but who have accumulated the required annuities from a year before.
Source: BFM TV
