Emmanuel Macron brandished the threat from the Elysee Palace on Wednesday night. If a motion of censure is approved during the pension reform, it is “dissolved[t] immediately” the National Assembly. For Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate of the Les Républicains (LR) party, this is part of the rights of the Head of State.
“It is a constitutional possibility,” he comments this Thursday morning on BFMTV-RMC, while recalling that it must be preceded by a “consultation [avec les] Presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate.
An “indispensable” pension reform
However, the head of the upper house specifies that the motion of censure is also a “right.” In recent days, the deputies of the National Group (RN) and the rebels have said that they are ready to vote on motions of censure whatever their origin, in the event of a forced passage by the government with article 49.3.
If Gérard Larcher defended the rights of the President of the Republic and those of parliamentarians, he also reaffirmed that a pension reform is “indispensable” and requires “courage”.
The president of the Senate highlighted in the first place the deficit of the pension system based on the forecasts of the Pension Guidance Council. This could reach between 7,500 and 10,000 million euros in 2027 and between 12,500 and 20,000 million euros in 2032.
He then listed several possibilities to reduce this deficit. Raise fees? Unthinkable according to him due to “inflation and the loss of purchasing power”. Reduce the amount of retirement pensions? “Impossible”, he also replied. One way to reaffirm that the solution will go through an extension of the legal retirement age.
Source: BFM TV
