The nervous breakdown is not far off. Faced with a government that is looking everywhere for support so that its pension reform is voted in the chamber this Thursday and avoid a disastrous 49.3 for the image, the right-wing deputies are the object of all eyes.
“The phone keeps ringing, either to be garnished or to be seduced. It’s time to move on,” an elected official sighs to BFMTV.com.
“A Little Fed Up”
It must be said that the executive has few options. Without an absolute majority, Elisabeth Borne must at all costs get many votes from the right. But for the moment, 22 deputies could vote against or abstain this Thursday out of 61, according to our accountant. However, she needs at least 40 votes from them if she wants to secure a solid majority.
Pressure the government to throw poles everywhere.
“I’m a little fed up. It seems like a flirting technique that is not right, not very convincing or even a bit absurd,” says another LR MP.
Minister and counselor by phone
In the maneuver, Franck Riester, the Delegate Minister for Relations with Parliament with a well-tuned technique. “He calls you and then one of his advisers follows him shortly after,” says one MP. The former elected LR, who joined the majority field in 2017, is emerging as the ideal profile to convince recalcitrant ex-teammates.
“We will do everything possible to avoid 49.3 until the end,” summed up his entourage since last week.
At the risk of making people tremble: “frankly, send us a traitor to convince us, thank you very much,” replies an old veteran of Parliament.
Seduce “the soft belly”
But in the list of calls to be made, some names were not marked, such as those of the “young guard” of LR deputies led by Aurélien Pradié such as Pierre-Henri Dumont and Raphaël Schellenberger.
“These were not even addressed. I think the government understood that it was not going to make them change their minds”, deciphers an employee of the LR group.
The executive points rather to what a ministerial adviser calls “the soft belly”: the deputies who still doubt or who are considering abstaining.
“A member who was quite contrary to the text said that she was not sure what she was going to do on Thursday,” said a participant during the group meeting this Tuesday morning. “This shows that there can be complete changes in situations,” analyzes another close friend of Éric Ciotti.
protesters and messengers
With a pebble in the shoe for Elisabeth Borne: the deputies less convinced of the reform are usually the ones who have had the most questions in their elections, with strong demonstrations in their territory.
“I had 8,000 protesters in my constituency, very angry letters. Of course we are not deaf and we can hear what is happening”, sums up a deputy who, however, should vote in favor of the reform.
One of his colleagues summarizes the dilemma more cruelly: “either we are seen as auxiliaries to the government or for people who do not understand that the reform as it is has not been developed. It’s a bit unsolvable.”
“We would really look like idiots”
In the field of management, the moods are less numerous and one begins to bang on the table. Olivier Marleix, the president of the deputies of LR, thus raised the tone this Tuesday morning.
Although he recalled “the freedom to vote for all”, he argued “that it was not acceptable for deputies to sign a motion of censure with people from the left or from the center” from the LIOT group. In his sights: the presentation of a possible cross-party motion and the fear of a split in the group.
“He said that we could vote as we wanted because otherwise he would lose face because we are divided. But they would really consider us idiots if, after the government’s concessions, we did not vote in favour”, deciphers one of the attendees.
A joint committee as a last resort
The government continues to rely on the mixed commission to convince the recalcitrant LR deputies. With the only point of discussion within this meeting between senators and deputies who will seek to agree: the bill approved in the Senate, with a majority to the right, the LR arrive in a position of force.
The Executive has already granted the right a drop in the retirement age to 64, instead of 65, as well as an increase in the small pensions extended to current retirees. Enough? Olivier Marleix is counting on it: a group meeting will be held after the CMP, according to information from BFMTV.com.
As if to ward off bad luck, Elisabeth Borne made a very insistent appeal to LR this Tuesday afternoon in full current affairs. Until now, passing a budget – the government’s chosen legislative vehicle – has always meant being a member of the majority.
Source: BFM TV
